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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/concerningbiliteOOgall 


ELIZABETH      WELLS      GALLUP 


CONCERNING  THE 

BI-LITERAL  CYPHER  OF 

FRANCIS  BACON 

DISCOVERED  IN  HIS  WORKS  BY 

ELIZABETH  WELLS  GALLUP 


PROS     AND     CONS     OF     THE 
CONTROVE  RSY 


Explanations,    Reviews 
Criticisms  and  Replies 


DETROIT,  MICH.,  U.  S.  A.: 
HOWARD  PUBLISHING  CO. 

LONDON : 
GAY  &  BIRD. 


ILiLlbii'^ 


AISWOTJNCEMEKT. 

THE  BI-LITERAL  CYPHER  OF  FRANCIS  BACON, 
Deciphered  bj  Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 

THIKD    EDITIOlSr 

This  edition  embraces  decipherings  from  the  commence- 
ment of  the  use  of  Bacon's  Cipher  inventions — now  found  to  be 
1579 — and  covering  the  entire  period  of  his  literary  career, 
including  some  works  published  by  Rawley  subsequent  to  1626. 
The  Cypher  has  been  traced  with  certainty  down  to  1651. 

This  Bi-literal  Cypher  reveals  much  secret  history  concern- 
ing Queen  Elizabeth,  who,  it  is  now  learned,  was  the  wedded 
wife  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester — ^while  posing  as  the  Virgin 
Queen — and  was  the  mother  of  Francis  Bacon. 

It  also  discloses  the  existence  of  a  second  so-called  Key- 
Word  Cipher,  of  broader  scope,  running  through  all  of  Bacon's 
literary  works,  with  instructions  by  which  they  may  be  de- 
ciphered to  disclose  other  hidden  dramatical  and  historical  pro- 
ductions of  larger  importance  and  greater  historical  accuracy 
than  those  upon  the  printed  pages  which  enfold  them.  These 
are  found  also  to  contain  secret  history,  dangerous  to  Bacon, 
who  sought  by  this  means  to  transmit  it  to  a  future  time  in 
which  he  hoped  the  Ciphers  would  be  discovered  and  the  truth 
proclaimed. 

The  method  of  the  Word  Cipher  is  shown  in  the  deciphered 
Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn,  published  simultaneously  with  this 
Third  Edition, — also  in  the  Tragedy  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex, 
— and  the  Tragedy  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots. 

6 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANNE  BOLEYN , 
Deciphered  by  Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup, 

One  of  the  Historical  Dramas  in  Cipher  named  in  the  Bi- 
literal  Cypher  as  concealed  in  the  works  of  Bacon. 

Part  I. 
Contains  extracts  from  the  Bi-literal,   with  Bacon's   in- 
structions and  the  Keys  by  which  this  Tragedy  has  been  ex- 
tracted fully  illustrating  the  Word  Cipher  method  of  its  re- 
construction. 

An  appendix  gives  the  editions  used  and  pages  on  which 
may  be  found  the  scattered  sections  brought  together  in  new 
sequence  to  form  the  new  play. 

Included  in  Part  I  will  also  be  found  the  decipherings  made 
by  Mrs.  Gallup  in  the  British  Museum  subsequent  to  the  publi- 
cation of  the  Second  Edition  of  the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  and  are 
from  Old  Editions  appearing  between  1579  and  1590,  establisli- 
ing  the  earliest  dates  this  Cypher  appeared.  They  are  placed 
here  for  the  convenience  of  these  having  Second  Editions  only. 

THE  TRAGICAL  HI8T0RTE 

OF  OUR  LATE  BKOTHER, 

ROBERT,  EARL  OF  ESSEX. 

Deciphered  by  Orville  W.  Owen.,  M.  D.  One  of  the  Histori- 
cal Dramas  in  Cipher. 

THE  HISTORICAL  TRAGEDY  OF  MARY,  QUEEN 

OF  SCOTS. 

Deciphered  by  Orville  W.  Owen,  M.  D.  One  of  the  Histori- 
cial  Dramas  in  Cipher. 

Howard  Publishing  Co., 
Gay  &  Bird,  Detroit,  Michigan,  U.  S.  A. 

London,  England. 


CONTENTS 

(of  this  volume) 

Frontispiece Portrait  Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup 

Announcements    6 

Title  Page  "The  Bi-literal  Cypher" 11 

(Plates  from  the  book) 

Contents  of  "Bi-literal  Cypher" 

Personal    15 

Publishers  Note.     Third   Edition 19 

De  Augmentis,  Original  Title    page  1624 21 

Cyphars  in  Advancement  of  Learning,  1605 22 

Cyphars  in  De  Augmentis,  Wats  Translation,  1640 23 

Bi-literarie    Alphabet    24 

Bi-f ormed  Alphabet    25 

Cicero's  First  Epistle — Method  of  deciphering "26 

Cicero's  First  Epistle — Cipher  infold 27 

Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn 29 

(Plates  from  the  book) 

Preface 30 

Argument    of    the    Play 35 

Keys  for  Deciphering 38 


FROM  MAGAZINES,  ETC. 

BACONI  ANA— LONDON : 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup — Descriptive 43 

— Explanatory    122 

—Henry   VII 222 

Editorial — Book  Review    74 

Connonbury   Tower    227 

D.  J.  Kindersley— Henry  VII 218 

COURT  JOURNAL— LONDON: 

Fleming  Fulcber  Review 81 

COSMOPOLITAN— NEW  YORK: 

Garrett  P.  Serviss  Review 112 

FREE   PRESS— DETROIT: 

Editorial,    Book   Review 69 

LITERARY  WORLD— LONDON: 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup.     Replies  MI 150 

NINETEENTH   CENTURY  AND  AFTER— LONDON : 

W.  H.  Mallock,  Review   94 

NEW  YORK  TIMES— LITERARY  REVIEW: 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup— Reply  to  C.  L.  Dana 163 

PALL  MALL  MAGAZINE— LONDON: 

Elizabeth    Wells    Gallup — Descriptive 51 

Explanatory    126 

TIMES— LONDON : 

Elizabeth   W.   Gallup 144 

W.    H.    Mallock 169 

A.  P.   Sinnett 172 

A.   P.   Sinnett 176 

Parker   Woodward    175 

REPLIES  TO  CRITICISMS: 

Elizabeth    Wells    Gallup 179 

Illustration    of    Method 198 

Fac-Simile   Plates   De   Augmentis    Scientiarum,   London 

Ed.,   1623    201 

Fac-Simile  Plates  Paris  Ed.,  1624 205 

Henry  Irving,  Princeton  Address 211 


THE 


Bi-literal  Cypher 


of 


S"  Francis  B 


rancis  oacon 


difcovered  in  his  works 


AND  DECIPHERED  BY 


MRS.   ELIZABETH  WELLS   GALLUP 


THIRD      EDITION 


x^ 


DETROIT.  MICHIGAN.  U.S.A.: 
HOWARD   PUBLISHING    COMPANY 

LONDON: 
CAY   6    BIRD 

i2  Bedford  St. 


CONTENTS. 
PART  I. 

PAGE 

Personal — Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup 1 

Explanatory  Introduction  First  Edition 5 

Preface,  Second  Edition 15 

Argument 18 

Notes  on  the  Shakespeare  Plays 28 

Stenography  in  the  tiflae  of  Queen  Elizabeth 35 

Francis  Bacon,  Biographical 39 

Ciphers   47 

Cyphars  in  Advancement  of  Learning,  1605 51 

Gyphars  in  De  Augmentis 52 

Bi-literal  Cipher  Plan  and  Illustration 53 

Fac-simile  pages  from  De  Augmentis,  1624 57 

Fac-simile  pages  from  Novum  Organum,  1620 63 

Fac-simile  title  page  Vitae  et  Mortis 67 

Shakespeare  Plays — Fac-simile  Quarto  Title  Pages 69 

Publisher's  Note 76 

BI-LITERAL  CYPHER. 
DECIPHERED  SECRET  STORY.     1579  to  1590. 

Shepheard's  Calender 1579 Anonymous 79 

The  Araygnemient  of  Paris.  .1584 George  Peele 80 

The  Mirrour  of  Modestie..  .1584 Robert  Greene 82 

Planetomaehia  1585 Robert  Greene 87 

A  Treatise  of  Melancholy. .  .1586 T.  Bright 89 

Euphues-Morando    1587 Robert  Greene 91 

Perimedes-Pandosto    1588 Robert  Greene 93 

Spanish  Masquerado 1589 Robert  Greene 94 


12 


PART  II. 
DECIPHERED  SECRET  STORY  FROM 

EDMUND  SPENSER: 

PAGK 

Complaints,  1591 1 

Colin  Clout,  1595  3 

Faerie  Queene,  1596  4 

Faerie  Queene,  second  part 7 

SHAKESPEARE  QUARTO: 

Richard  Second,  1598   10 

GEORGE  PEELE: 

David  and  Bethsabe.  1599 11 

SHAKESPEARE  QUARTOS: 

Midsommer  Night's  Dream,  1600 12 

Midsommer  Night's  Dream,  Fisher  Ed 13 

Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  1600 14 

Sir  John  Oldcastle  and  Merchant  of  Venice,  Roberts  Ed., 

1600 15 

Richard,  Duke  of  York,  1600  18 

FRANCIS  BACON: 

Treasons  of  Essex,  1601 20 

SHAKESPEARE  QUARTO: 

London  Prodigal,  1605   23 

FRANCIS  BACON: 

Advancement  of  Learning,  1605  25 

SHAKESPEARE  QUARTOS: 

King  Lear,  1608    33 

King  Henry  The  Fifth,  1608 M 

Pericles,  1609   35 

Hamlet,    1611    36 

Titus  Andronicus,  1611   38 


13 


EDMUND  SPENSER: 

PAGE 

Shepheards  Calender,  1611 40 

Faerie  Queene,  1613   43 

BEN  JONSON: 

Plays  in  Folio,  1616 49 

SHAKESPEARE  QUARTOS: 

Richard  The  Second,  1615  72 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  1619 73 

Contention  of  York  and  Lancaster,  1619  74 

Pericles,  1619 77 

Yorkshire  Tragedy,  1619  78 

Romeo  and  Juliet,  no  date  79 

ROBERT  GREENE: 

A  Quip  For  an  Upstart  Courtier,  1620  80 

FRANCIS  BACON: 

Novum  Organum,  1620    81 

The  Parasceve  133 

Henry  The  Seventh,  1622  136 

CHRISTOPHER  MARLOWE: 

Edward  The  Second,  1622   151 

FRANCIS  BACON: 

Historia  Vitae  &  Mortis,  1623 153 

SHAKESPEARE  PLAYS: 

First  Folio,   1623    165 

ROBERT  BURTON: 

Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  1628  218 

"Argument  of  the  Iliad"  220 

FRANCIS  BACON: 

De  Augmentis  Scientiarum,  1624  310 

"Argument  of  the  Odysses"  313 

New  Atlantis,  1635 334 

Sylva  Sylvarum,  1635,  Rawley's  Preface 339 

Natural  History    341 

William  Rawley's  Note 368 


14 


PERSONAL. 


TO    THE    READER: 


The  discovery  of  the  existence  of  the  Bi-literal  Cipher 
of  Francis  Bacon,  found  embodied  in  his  works,  and  the 
deciphering  of  what  it  tells,  has  been  a  work  arduous,  ex- 
hausting and  prolonged.  It  is  not  ended,  but  the  results 
of  the  work  so  far  brought  forth,  are  submitted  for  study 
and  discussion,  and  open  a  new  and  large  field  of  investi- 
gation and  research,  which  cannot  fail  to  interest  all  stu- 
dents of  the  earlier  literature  that  has  come  down  to  us  as 
a  mirror  of  the  past,  and  in  many  respects  has  been  adopted 
as  models  for  the  present. 

Seeking  for  things  hidden,  the  mysterious,  elusive  and 
unexpected,  has  a  fascination  for  many  minds,  as  it  has 
for  my  own,  and  this  often  prompts  to  greater  effort  than 
more  manifest  and  material  things  would  command.  To 
this  may  be  attributed,  perhaps,  the  triumph  over  diffi- 
culties which  have  seemed  to  me,  at  times,  insurmountable, 
the  solution  of  problems,  and  the  following  of  ways  tor- 
tuous and  obscure,  which  have  been  necessary  to  bring  out, 
as  they  appear  in  the  following  pages,  the  hidden  mes- 
sages which  Francis  Bacon  so  securely  buried  in  his  writ- 
ings, that  three  hundred  years  of  reading  and  close  study 
have  not  until  now  uncovered  them. 

This  Bi-literal  Cipher  is  found  in  the  Italic  letters  that 
appear  in  such  unusual  and  unexplained  prodigality  in  the 
original  editions  of  Bacon's  works.  Students  of  these  old 
editions  have  been  impressed  with  the  extraordinary  num- 
ber of  words  and  passages,  often  non-important,  printed  in 
Italics,  where  no  known  rule  of  construction  would  require 
their  use.  There  has  been  no  reasonable  explanation  of 
this  until  now  it  is  found  that  they  were  so  used  for  the 

15 


2  PEKSONAL 

purposes  of  this  Cipher.  These  letters  are  seen  to  be  in 
two  forms — two  fonts  of  type — with  marked  differences. 
In  the  Capitals  these  are  easily  discerned,  but  the  distin- 
guishing features  in  the  small  letters,  from  age  of  the 
books,  blots  and  poor  printing,  have  been  more  difficult  to 
classify,  and  close  examination  and  study  have  been  re- 
quired to  separate  and  sketch  out  the  variations,  and  edu- 
cate the  eye  to  distinguish  them. 

How  I  found  the  Cipher,  its  difficulties,  methods  of 
working,  and  outline  of  what  the  several  books  contain, 
will  more  fully  appear  in  the  explanatory  introduction. 

In  assisting  Dr.  Owen  in  the  preparation  of  the  later 
books  of  "Sir  Francis  Bacon's  Cipher  Story,"  recently  pub- 
lished, and  in  the  study  of  the  great  Word-Cipher  discov- 
ered by  him,  in  which  is  incorporated  Bacon's  more  exten- 
sive, more  complete  and  important  writings,  I  became  con- 
vinced that  the  very  full  explanation  found  in  De  Aug- 
mentis,  of  the  bi-literal  method  of  cipher-writing,  was 
something  more  than  a  mere  treatise  on  the  subject.  I 
applied  the  rules  given  to  the  peculiarly  Italicised  words 
and  "letters  in  two  forms,"  as  they  appear  in  the  photo- 
graphic Tac-simile  of  the  original  1623,  Folio  edition,  of 
the  Shakespeare  Plays.  The  disclosures,  as  they  appear  in 
this  volume,  were  as  great  a  surprise  to  me,  as  they  will 
be  to  my  readers.  Original  editions  of  Bacon's  known 
works  were  then  procured,  as  well  as  those  of  other  authors 
named  in  these,  and  claimed  by  Bacon  as  his  own.  The 
story  deciphered  from  these  will  appear  under  the  sev- 
eral headings. 

From  the  disclosures  found  in  all  these,  it  is  evident 
that  Bacon  expected  this  Bi-literal  Cipher  would  be  the  first 
to  be  discovered,  and  that  it  would  lead  to  the  discovery 
of  his  principal,  or  Word-Cipher,  which  it  fully  explains, 
and  to  which  is  intrusted  the  larger  subjects  he  desired  to 
have  preserved.  This  order  has  been  reversed,  in  fact,  and 
the  earlier  discovery  of  the  Word-Cipher,  by  Dr.  Owen, 
becomes  a  more  remarkable  achievement,  being  entirely 

16 


PERSONAL.  3 

evolved  without  the  aids  which  Bacon  had  prepared  in  this, 
for  its  elucidation. 

The  proofs  are  overwhelming  and  irresistible  that  Bacon 
was  the  author  of  the  delightful  lines  attributed  to  Spen- 
ser,— the  fantastic  conceits  of  Peele  and  Greene, — the  his- 
torical romances  of  Marlowe, — the  immortal  plays  and 
poems  put  forth  in  Shakespeare's  name,  as  well  as  the 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy  of  Burton. 

The  removal  of  these  masques,  behind  which  Bacon 
concealed  himself,  may  change  the  names  of  some  of  our 
idols.  It  is,  however,  the  matter  and  not  the  name  that 
appeals  to  our  intelligence. 

The  plays  of  Shakespeare  lose  nothing  of  their  dramatic 
power  or  wondrous  beauty,  nor  deserve  the  less  admiration 
of  the  scholar  and  critic,  because  inconsistencies  are  re- 
moved in  the  knowledge  that  they  came  from  the  brain  of 
the  greatest  student  and  writer  of  that  age,  and  were  not 
a  "flash  of  genius"  descended  upon  one  of  peasant  birth, 
less  noble  history,  and  of  no  preparatory  literary  attain- 
ments. 

The  Shepherds'  Calendar  is  not  less  sweetly  poetical, 
because  Francis  Bacon  appropriated  the  name  of  Spenser, 
several  years  after  his  death,  under  which  to  put  forth  the 
musical  measures,  that  had,  up  to  that  time,  only  appeared 
as  the  production  of  some  Muse  without  a  name;  nor  will 
Faerie  Queene  lose  ought  of  its  rythmic  beauty  or  romantic 
interest  from  change  of  name  upon  the  title  page. 

The  supposed  writings  of  Peele,  Greene  and  Marlowe 
are  not  the  less  worthy,  because  really  written  by  one 
greater  than  either. 

The  remarkable  similarity  in  the  dramatic  writings  at- 
tributed to  Greene,  Peele,  Marlowe  and  Shakespeare  has 
attracted  much  attention,  and  the  biographers  of  each  have 
claimed  that  both  style  and  subject-matter  have  been  imi- 
tated, if  not  appropriated,  by  the  others.  The  practical 
explanation  lies  in  the  fact  that  one  hand  wrote  them  all. 

17 


4  PERSONAL. 

I  fully  appreciate  what  it  means  to  bring  forth  new 
truth  from  unexpected  and  unknown  fields,  if  not  in  ac- 
cord with  accepted  theories  and  long  held  beliefs.  ''For 
what  a  man  had  rather  were  true,  he  more  readily  be- 
lieves,"— is  one  of  Bacon's  truisms  that  finds  many  illus- 
trations. 

I  appreciate  what  it  means  to  ask  strong  minds  to  change 
long  standing  literary  convictions,  and  of  such  I  venture 
to  ask  the  withholding  of  judgment  until  study  shall  have 
made  the  new  matter  familiar,  with  the  assurance  mean- 
while, upon  my  part,  of  the  absolute  veracity  of  the  work 
which  is  here  presented.  Any  one  possessing  the  original 
books,  who  has  sufficient  patience  and  a  keen  eye  for  form, 
can  work  out  and  verify  the  Cipher  from  the  illustrations 
given.  Nothing  is  left  to  choice,  chance,  or  the  imagina- 
tion. The  statements  which  are  disclosed  are  such  as  could 
not  be  foreseen,  nor  imagined,  nor  created,  nor  can  there  be 
found  reasonable  excuse  for  the  hidden  writings,  except  for 
the  purposes  narrated,  which  could  only  exist  concerning, 
and  be  described  by,  Francis  Bacon. 

I  would  beg  that  the  readers  of  this  book  will  bring  to 
the  consideration  of  the  work  minds  free  from  prejudice, 
judging  of  it  with  the  same  intelligence  and  impartiality 
they  would  themselves  desire,  if  the  presentation  were  their 
own.  Otherwise  the  work  will,  indeed,  have  been  a  thank- 
less task. 

To  doubt  the  ultimate  acceptance  of  the  truths  brought 
to  light  would  be  to  distrust  that  destiny  in  which  Bacon 
had  such  an  abiding  faith  for  his  justification,  and  which, 
in  fact,  after  three  centuries,  has  lifted  the  veil,  and 
brought  us  to  estimate  the  character  and  accomplishments, 
trials  and  sorrows  of  that  great  genius,  with  a  feeling  of 
nearness  and  personal  sympathy,  far  greater  than  has  been 
possible  from  the  partial  knowledge  which  we  have  here- 
tofore enjoyed. 

ELIZABETH  WELLS   GALLUP. 

Detroit,  March  1st.  1899. 

18 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTE. 

THIRD   EDITION. 

The  publication  of  the  second  edition  of  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon,  which  embraced  the  period  of  his 
Cipher  writing  between  1590  and  the  end  of  his  career, 
emphasized  the  importance  of  finding  the  earlier  writings 
— preceding  1590.  The  old  books  necessary  to  the  re- 
search could  not  be  procured  in  America,  and  during  the 
summer  of  1900  Mrs.  Gallup  and  her  assistant,  Miss  Kate 
E.  Wells,  visited  England  to  carry  on  the  work  in  that 
treasure  house  of  early  literature,  the  British  Museum. 
The  investigations  yielded  rich  returns,  for  in  Shepheard's 
Calender  of  1579  was  found  the  commencement  of  what 
proved  to  be  an  important  part  of  Bacon's  life  work. 

Following  Shepheard's  Calender,  the  works  between 
1579  and  1590,  so  far  deciphered,  are: 

Araygnement  of  Paris,  1584;  Mirrour  of  Modestie, 
1584. 

Planetomachia,  1585. 

Treatise  of  Melancholy,  1586.  Two  editions  of  this 
were  issued  the  same  year,  with  differing  Italics.  The  first 
ends  with  an  incomplete  cipher  word  which  is  completed  in 
the  second  for  the  continued  narration,  thus  making  evident 
which  was  first  published,  unless  they  were  published  at 
the  same  time. 

Euphues,  1587;  Morando,  1587.  These  two  also  join 
together,  with  an  incomplete  word  at  the  end  of  the  first 
finding  its  completion  in  the  commencement  of  the  Cipher 
in  the  second. 

Perimedes  the  Blacke-smith,  1588;  Pandosto,  1588. 
These  two  also  join  together. 

19 


Spanish  Masquerade,  1589.  Two  editions  of  this  work 
bear  date  the  same  year,  but  have  different  Italicising.  In 
one  edition  the  Cipher  Story  is  complete,  closing  with  the 
signature :  "Fr.,  Prince."  In  the  other  the  story  is  not 
complete,  the  book  ending  with  an  incomplete  cipher  word, 
the  remainder  of  which  will  be  found  in  some  work  of  a 
near  date  which  has  not  yet  been  indicated. 

Several  months  were  spent  in  following,  through  these 
old  books,  the  thread  of  the  concealed  story  until  it  joined 
the  work  which  had  already  been  published.  Overstrained 
eye-sight,  from  the  close  study  of  the  different  forms  of 
Italic  letters,  and  consequent  exhaustion  on  the  part  of 
Mrs.  Gallup,  compelled  a  cessation  of  the  work  before  all 
that  would  have  been  desirable  to  know  concerning  that 
early  period  was  deciphered ;  and  while  these  are  not  all  the 
works  in  which  Cipher  will  be  found,  between  the  years 
1579  and  1590,  they  are  sufficient  unmistakably  to  connect 
the  earlier  writings  with  those  of  later  date  which  had 
already  been  deciphered — as  published  in  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher — so  that  we  now  know  the  Cipher  writings  were 
being  continuously  infolded  in  Bacon's  works,  for  a  period 
of  about  forty-six  years,  from  the  first  to  the  last  of  his  lit- 
erary productions,  including  some  matter  he  had  prepared, 
which  was  published  by  Rawley  subsequent  to  1626. 

These  few  pages  of  deciphered  matter,  now  added  to  that 
published  in  the  Second  Edition,  have  a  unique  distinction 
in  the  costliness  of  their  production,  but  they  are  of  ines- 
timable value,  historically,  as  well  as  from  a  literary  point 
of  view,  in  demonstrating  with  certainty  the  scope  and 
completeness  of  the  Cipher  plan  which  has  so  long  hidden 
the  secrets  of  a  most  eventful  period. 


20 


FRANCISCI 

BARONI S 

DE    VERVLAMIO, 

VICE-CO  MITIS 


SANGTI    ALBANI. 
DE  DICNITATE  ET  jdVG MENTIS 

SClENTIARf^tt. 

L    I  B  R  I     I  X. 
^  D    K  EC  E  M    S  t^  y  M 


luxta  Exemplar  Londini  Imprefllim. 

P  A  R  I  S  I  I  S, 
Typis  Petri    METTAVER,Typographj  K'^gij 

mT  D  C.  X  X 1 V. 


Of  the  Advancement  of  Learning. 

(London,  1605.) 


CYPHARS 


For  Cyphars;  they  are  commonly  in  Letters 
or  Alphabets,  but  may  bee  in  Wordes.  The  kindes 
of  Cyphars,  (befides  the  Simple  Cyphars 
with  Changes,  and  intermixtures  of  N  v  lles,  and 
Nonsignificant s)  are  many,  according  to 
the  Nature  or  Rule  of  the  infoulding  :  W  h  e  e  l  e  ■ 
Cyphars,  Ka  y-C  yphars,  Dovbles, 
&c.  But  the  vertues  of  them,  whereby  they  are 
to  be  preferred,  are  three ;  that  they  be  not  labor- 
ious to  write  and  reade;  that  they  bee  impofsible 
to  difcypher ;  and  in  fome  cafes,  that  they  bee 
without  fufpition.  The  higheft  Degree  whereof, 
is  to  write  Omnia  Per  Omnia;  which  is 
vndoubtedly  pofsible,  with  a  proportion  Quintuple 
at  moft,  of  the  writing  infoulding,  to  the  writing 
infoulded,  and  no  other  reftrainte  whatfoeuer. 
This  Arte  of  Cypheringe,  hath  for  Relatiue,  an  Art 
of  Difcypheringe ;  by  fuppofition  vnprofitable ;  but, 
as  things  are,  of  great  vfe.  For  fuppofe  that 
Cyphars  were  well  mannaged,  there  bee  Multitudes 
of  them  which  exclude  the  Difcypherer.  But  in 
regarde  of  the  rawneffe  and  vnskilfulneffe  of  the 
handes,  through  which  they  paffe,  the  greateft 
Matters,  are  many  times  carryed  in  the  weakeft 
Cyphars. 

22 


De  Augmentis  Scientiarum 

(Translation,  Gilbert  Wats,  1640.) 


Wherefore  let  us  come  to  C  y  p  h  a  R  s.  Their  kinds 
are  many,  as  Cyphars  Ctrnple;  Cyphars  intermixt  with 
d^ulloes,  or  non  -  lignificant  Characters;  Cyphars  oj 
double  Letters  under  one  Character;  IVheele-Cyphars ;  Kay- 
Cyphars;  Cyphars  of  Words;  Others.  But  the  virtues 
of  them  whereby  they  are  to  be  preferr'd  are  Three; 
That  they  be  ready,  and  not  laborious  to  write;  That  they  be 
fure,  and  lie  not  open  to  Deciphering ;  And  laflly,  if  it  be 
pofsible,  that  they  be  managed  without  fufpition. 

But  that  jealoufies  may  be  taken  away,  we  will 
annexe  an  other  invention,  which,  in  truth,  we 
devifed  in  our  youth,  when  we  were  at  Paris :  and 
is  a  thing  that  yet  feemeth  to  us  not  worthy  to  be 
loft.  It  containeth  the  higheft  degree  of  Cypher,  which 
is  to  fignifie  omnia  per  omnia,  yet  fo  as  the  writing 
infolding,  may  beare  a  quintuple  proportion  to  the 
writing  infolded;  no  other  condition  or  reftriction 
whatfoever  is  required.  It  fhall  be  performed  thus: 
Firft  let  all  the  Letters  of  the  Alphabet,  by  tranfpo- 
fition,  be  refolved  into  two  Letters  onely ;  for  the 
tranfpofition  of  two  Letters  by  five  placings  will  be 
fufftcient  for  32.  Differences,  much  more  for  24. 
which  is  the  number  of  the  Alphabet.  The  example 
of  fuch  an  Alphabet  i';  on  this  wife. 

23 


An  Example  of  a  'Bi-literarie  Alphabet. 

<iA         "B         C        T>         E         F 

oAaaaa  aaaab   aaaba.  aaabb.  aabaa.  aabab. 

G     '    H         I  K  L         0\f 

aabba  aabbb  abaaa.  abaab.  ababa.  ababb. 

3^        O         T         d        T{  S 

abbaa.  abbab.  abbba.  abbbb.  baaaa.  baaab. 

T         V        IV        X         Y  Z 

baaba.  baabb.  babaa.  babab,  babba.  babbb. 

Neither  is  it  a  fmall  matter  thefe  Cypher-Char  act  en 
have,  and  may  performe :  For  by  this  Art  a  way  is 
opened,  whereby  a  man  may  expreffe  and  fignifie 
the  intentions  of  his  minde,  at  any  diftance  of 
place,  by  objects  which  may  be  prefented  to  the 
eye,  and  accommodated  to  the  eare  :  provided  thofe 
objects  be  capable  of  a  twofold  difference  onely  ; 
as  by  Bells^  by  Trumpets,  by  Lights  and  Torches, 
by  the  report  of  Muskets,  and  any  inftruments  of 
like  nature.  But  to  purfue  our  enterprife,  when 
you  addreffe  your  felfe  to  write,  refolve  your  in- 
ward-infolded Letter  into  this  "Bi-literarie  Alphabet. 
Say  the  interiour  Letter  be 

Fuge. 

Example  of  Solution. 

F  V  G  E 

aabab.      baabb.     aabba.    aabaa. 

Together  with  this,  you  muft  have  ready  at 
hand  a  "Bi-formed  Alphabet,  which  may  reprefent  all 
the  Letters  of  the  Common  Alphabet,  as  well  Capitall 
Letters  as  the  Smaller  Characters  in  a  double 
forme,  as  may  fit  every  mans  occafion. 

24 


An  Example  of  a  'Bi-formed  Alphabet. 

(      a       3     a    i>        a      b    a   b         a     b    a  b        a      b      a    b        abababab 

{J^Aaa  ^Bbh  CCccDDdd  EEee  FFff 

i       a      b  a  b        a      b      a   b      a    b   a  b        a       b    a   b       a     b   a  b         a        b      a    b 

\GGgg  HHbh  J  Hi  KKkh  LLll  OAMmm 

i       a        b    a    b        a     b     a  b       a      b     a   b         a      b    a  b        abababab 

Xt^Nnn  OOoo  TPpp  Q^Qq'I  Ti^rr  SSss 

I       a     bab    a      b    a    b    a    b        a        babababababab    ab 

\  1  TitVVvvuu  WWww  XX%x  YYyy  ZZ^z 

Now  to  the  interiour  letter,  which  is  Biliterate, 
you  fhall  fit  a  biformed  exteriour  letter,  which  fhall 
anfwer  the  other,  letter  for  letter,  and  afterwards 
fet  it  downe.     Let  the  exteriour  example  be, 

OAanere  te  volo,  donee  venero. 

An  Example  of  Accommodation. 

F  V         G  E 

a      a    b  a  h.  b     a  a      b  b.  a  a     b   b  a.  a  a      baa. 

{Man ere  te  volo  donee  venero 

We  have  annext  likewife  a  more  ample  example 
of  the  cypher  of  writing  omnia  per  omnia:  An  interiour 
letter,  which  to  expreffe,  we  have  made  choice  of 
a  Spartan  letter  fent  once  in  a  Scytale  or  round 
cypher'd  ftaffe. 

Spartan  Dispatch. 

z/iU  is  lost.  {Mindariis  is  killed.  7 be  soldiers 
want  food.  We  can  neitber  gel  hence  nor  slay  longer 
bere. 

An  exteriour  letter,  taken  out  of  the  firft  Epiftle 
of  Cicero,  wherein  a  Spartan  Letter  is  invoUed. 

25 


Cicero's  hirst  Epistle. 
Jn  all  duty  or  rather  piety  towards 

a    a        aaa\abab      a\a     b  a  b  a\a  b      a  a  a\b  a     a  a   b  \a  b   a  b 
A  \  L  \  L  \  I         \  S  \        L 

you,  I  satisfy  everybody  except  myself. 

a\  a  b         b        a  b\i  a  a  a   b    \  b  a  a  b  a\a.  b    a    b      b\ab  a  a  a    \  a    b  b  a  a\a 

I  o  \s\t\m\i\n\ 

(Myself  J  never  satisfy.   For  so  great  are 

a    a    b  b\a  a    a      a  a  \b  a  a     a  a\  b  a  a  b  b      I     b    a  a     ab\abaaa\baa 

d\a\r\u\  S  I  /|^ 

the  services  which  you  have  render ed  me, 

a  b\  a    b  a  a  b\ab  a  a     a  \  a   b  a  b      a\  a   b      a  b   a\a    abaa\aaab       b\  b 
\  K         \  I  \  L  \  L  1^1  D  \ 

that,  seeing  you  did  not  rest  in  your  en- 

a  a   b  a    I    a  a  b  b  b\a     a    b  a      a\b  a      aa.b\a.bba     b  \a      b  a  b  a  \  a   a 
T        \  //         \  £  \  S  \  O  \  L  \ 

deavours  on  my  behalf  till  the  thing  was 

abb\abaaa\aa       b    a      a\baaaa\baaa     b\b  a    i  a  a\  a  a      a    a  a\ 
D      \  I  \  E  \r\s\w\a\ 

done,  J  feel  as  if  life  had  lost  all  its  sweet- 

abba       a  \    b  a  a  b     a\a      a  b    a  b\a  b     bab\abba      b\aa     abb\babaa\ 
N  \T\F\0\0\D\iV\ 

ness,  becaiise  y  cannot  do  as  much  in  this 

a  a  b  a.       ci\a  a  &  b  a\(i     a     a  a  a  \  a    b  b     a  a  \  a   b      b    a    a\a    a   b     a  a\a  b 
£  \  C         \  A  |iV|  N  \  £  \ 

cause  of  yours.    The  occasions  are  these: 

a  a  a  \  b  a    a  b    a  \  a  a   b  b  b\  a  a     b  a  a\b  a  a  a  a\a,      abb     a\a  a  b  a 

I     \  T  \  H  I  ^1^1  G  \         E 

zAmmonius,  the  king' s  ambassador,  open- 

a.    I    b      a    a  3  a\  a  a      bbb\aa,bct      a  \  <z    b    baalaaabalaaba 
I  T  {  //  \  £  \  N  \  C  \  £ 

ly  besieges  us  with  money.     The  business 

a\a      b  b  CL  ala  b   b  a      b  \h      aaaa\baaab      I       baa      b  a\a  a   a   a  a\b 
\  N         \  O  \  R  \  S  \     '  T  1^1 

is  carried  on  through  the  same  creditor s 

a  b    b  a\a  b  a  b  a  \  a   b     b  a   b\a  b  b   a     a\a  a      b  b    a  \  a     a  b  a  a\  b  a  a  a  a\ 
Y       \  L         \  O  \  N  \  O  \  £  \        R        \ 

who  were  employed  in  it  when  you  were 

a  a  b       b    b\a  a      b    a    a\b  a  a  a  a  \  a  a      b  a        a\  a  a  a       a   a   a        a  a  a  a 

H  \  £  \  R  \  £  I 

here  S-c. 

(Note  )— This  Translation  from  Spedding,  ElHs  &  Heath  Ed. 

26 


(REPRODUCTION .) 

Epistle. 

Jn  all  duty  or  rather  piety  towards  you,  I  satisfy 
everybody  except  myself,  dviyself  J  never  satisfy. 
For  so  great  are  the  services  which  yon  have  rendered 
me,  that,  seeing  you  did  not  rest  in  your  endeavours 
on  my  behalf  till  the  thing  was  done,  7 feel  as  if  life 
had  lost  all  its  sweetness,  because  J  cannot  do  as 
much  in  this  cause  of  yours.  The  occasions  are  these: 
^mmonius,  the  king's  ambassador,  openly  besieges  us 
with  money.  The  business  is  carried  on  through  the 
same  creditors  who  were  employed  in  it  when  you 
were  here  S-c. 

Cipher  infolded. 

Jill  is  lost.  zMindarus  is  killed.  The  soldiers 
want  food.  We  can  neither  get  hence  nor  stay  longer 
here. 

The  knowledge  of  Cyphering,  hath  drawne  on  with  it 
a  knowledge  relative  unto  it,  which  is  the  knowledge 
of  Difcyphering,  or  of  Difcreting  Cyphers,  though  a  man 
were  utterly  ignorant  of  the  Alphabet  of  the  Cypher, 
and  the  Capitulations  of  fecrecy  paft  between  the 
Parties.  Certainly  it  is  an  Art  which  requires  great 
paines  and  a  good  witt  and  is  [as  the  other  was] 
confecrate  to  the  Counfels  of  Princes:  yet  notwith- 
ftanding  by  diligent  previfion  it  may  be  made  un- 
profitable, though,  as  things  are,  it  be  of  great  ufe. 
For  if  good  and  faithfull  Cyphers  were  invented  & 
practifed,  many  of  them  would  delude  and  foreftall 
all  the  Cunning  of  the  Decypherer,  which  yet  are  very 
apt  and  eafie  to  be  read  or  written:  but  the  rawneffe 
and  unskilfulneffe  of  Secretaries,  and  Clarks  in  the 
Courts  of  Princes,  is  fuch,  that  many  times  the 
^^reateft  matters  are  committed  to  futile  and  weake 
Cyphers. 

27 


THE 


TRAGEDY   OF 

Anne  Boleyn. 


A  DRAMA  IN  CIPHER 

FOUND  IN  THE  WORKS  OF 

SIR  FRANCIS  BACON. 


DECIPHERED  BY 

ELIZABETH  WELLS  GALLUP. 


DETROIT,  MICHIGAN,  U.  S.  A.: 
HOWARD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 

LONDON: 

GAY  &  BIRD, 

22  Bedford  St.  Strand. 


PKEFACE. 

The  Cipher  discoveries  in  some  of  the  literature  of  the 
Elizabethan  period,  as  set  forth  in  Francis  Bacon's  Bi- 
literal  Cypher — a  book  recently  published  in  America  and 
England — are  most  strange  and  important.  To  those  not 
familiar  with  them,  a  few  words  are  requisite  for  an  under- 
standing of  the  methods  of  the  production  of  this  Cipher 
play — The  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn. 

Two  principal  Ciphers  have  been  found  to  exist  in  the 
works  of  Bacon.  The  first,  the  Bi-literal,  by  the  use  of 
Italic  letters  in  different  forms,  concealed  the  rules  and 
directions  for  writing  out  a  second  of  greater  scope — a  so- 
called  Word  Cipher,  in  which  key  words  indicate  sections 
of  similar  matter,  that,  brought  together  in  a  new  sequence, 
tell  a  different  story.  Both  were  invented  by  Bacon  in  his 
youth.  The  primary,  or  Bi-literal  Cypher,  is  fully  ex- 
plained in  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum,  but  it  is  only  re- 
cently that  it  has  been  found  to  exist  in  the  Italic  printing 
of  a  number  of  the  books  of  the  Elizabethan  era — books 
ascribed  to  different  authors  but  now  proved  to  have  been 
written  by  Bacon. 

On  pages  following  are  extracts  from  the  Bi-lUeral  Cy- 
pher, as  published,  relating  in  the  words  of  the  inventor 
himself  the  manner  of  using  the  Key-Word  Cipher  for  the 
segregation  and  reconstruction  of  the  hidden  narratives, 
infolded  in  the  pages  as  originally  printed,  with  which  we 
are  familiar.  These  directions  are  fragmentary,  scattered 
through  many  of  the  books  deciphered,  and  are  many  times 
repeated  in  varying  forms  of  expression. 

The  more  important  only  are  here  gathered,  which,  with 
the  "Argument"  and  the  keys,  now  given,  of  this  tragedy, 


31 


II  PREFACE. 

will  outline  the  plan  of  this  work.  It  may  be  interesting  to 
know  that  the  use  of  the  key  words  is  progressive,  and  that 
a  small  number  only  are  used  at  one  time:  the  first  six  or 
seven  writing  the  prologue,  a  few  of  the  next  the  opening 
scenes  of  the  play,  and  so  on  through  the  entire  work,  some 
being  dropped  as  others  are  taken  up  successively  until  all 
have  been  used.  An  appendix  gives  the  book  and  page 
from  which  the  lines  are  taken  that  have  been  brought  to- 
gether as  the  "great  architect  or  master-builder  directed.'' 

In  the  reconstruction,  especially  when  prose  is  changed 
to  verse,  the  order  of  the  words  is  slightly  changed  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  "rythmic  measure  in  the  Iambic." 
The  great  author  used  large  parts  of  many  scenes  in  two 
distinct  plays — open  and  concealed — now  and  then  with 
the  same  dramatis  personae,  again  with  others  clearly  indi- 
cated as  belonging,  historically,  to  these  particular  scenes. 
This  fact  may  jostle  our  ideas  somewhat,  as  we  find  new 
speakers  using  the  familiar  lines,  but  there  is  an  added 
interest,  when  the  transposition  gives  the  accuracy  of  his- 
tory to  the  beauty  of  dramatic  expression.  This  seems  the 
reverse  of  the  natural  order,  but  it  is  seeming  only,  for  the 
literary  world  became  acquainted  with  the  rewritten  plays 
three  centuries  before  the  hidden  originals  came  to  light. 

In  the  banquet  scene  of  this  tragedy,  the  :ffrst  part  is 
almost  identical  with  that  of  Henry  Eighth,  although — 
when  "like  joins  like,"  something  from  Macbeth,  from 
Hamlet,  fi-om  Romeo  and  Juliet,  etc.,  etc.,  is  added — 
while  other  diversions  of  that  festival  night  are  not  given 
openly  in  any  of  the  works.  The  handkerchief  scenes  of 
the  imagined  tragedy  of  Othello  belong  to  this  real,  but 
concealed,  tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  the  accusations 
against  the  Queen  of  Sicilia  are  a  part  of  the  charge  against 
this  martyred  Queen ;  the  reply,  a  part  of  the  pathetic  but 
brave  response  she  made.  The  second  part  was  never  be- 
fore in  any  published  drama. 


32 


PREFACE.  Ill 

It  would  seem  that  Bacon  learned  from  Cicero  the 
method  of  preparing  matter  which  could  with  slight  varia- 
tions be  adapted  to  more  than  one  purpose.  We  find  this 
in  the  Advancement  of  Learning  (1605,  p.  52). 

''And  Cicero  himself e,  being  broken  unto  it  by  great  ex- 
perience, delivereth  it  plainely;  That  whatsoever  a  man 
shall  have  occasion  to  speake  of,  (if  he  will  take  the 
paines)  he  may  have  it  in  effect  premediate,  and  handled 
in  these.  So  that  when  hee  cometh  to  a  particular,  he  shall 
have  nothing  to  doe,  but  to  put  too  iSTames  and  times,  and 
places ;  and  such  other  Circumstances  of  Individuals." 

A  little  further  on  (p.  56),  is  an  instance  where  an  in- 
quiry about  the  tablets  in  N"eptune's  Temple  is  ascribed  to 
Diagoras,  while  in  the  Apothegms  this  same  question  is  put 
in  the  mouth  of  Bion.  And,  in  the  First  Folio  of  the 
Shakespeare  Plays,  a  very  marked  example  occurs  in  Romeo 
and  Juliet. 

Romeo  speaking,  says : 

"The  gray  ey'd  morne  smiles  on  the  frowning  night, 
Checkring  the  Easterne  Clouds  with  streakes  of  light, 
x\nd  darknesse  fleckel'd  like  a  drunkard  reeles. 
From  forth  dayes  pathway,  made  by  Titans  wheeles." 

Then  almost  immediately  after,  the  Friar  gives  the  same 
lines,  with  very  slight  but  distinctive  changes : 

"The  gray  ey'd  morne  smiles  on  the  frowning  night, 
Checkring  the  Easterne  Cloudes  with  streaks  of  light. 
And  fleckled  darknesse  like  a  drunkard  reeles. 
From  forth  dales  path,  and  Titans  burning  wheeles." 

The  modern  editors  cut  out  one  quatrain  as  a  supposed 
mistake,  the  decipherer  discovers  by  the  keys  and  joining- 
words  that  each  has  a  place — the  first  in  one  work,  and  the 
second  in  another. 

As  the  tragical  events  of  this  period  in  the  history  of  the 
ill-fated  queen,  now  known  to  be  Bacon's  ancestress,  have 


33 


IV  PREFACE. 

little  by  little  unfolded  in  the  deciphering,  there  has  been  a 
deepening  sense  of  the  pathos  of  the  story.  Like  dissolving 
views  the  scenes  appear,  and  fade,  and  this  mightiness 
meets  misery  so  soon  that  we  feel  the  shock.  There  is  the 
gentle  Anne's  appearance  at  the  banquet,  '"when  King 
Henry  for  the  first  time  cometh  truely  under  the  spell  of 
her  beautie" — his  infatuation — his  determination  that 
nothing  should  stand  in  the  way  of  making  her  his  wife — 
the  divorce  from  Katherine — the  coronation — the  disap- 
proval of  the  people,  not  of  Anne  but  of  the  King — the  in- 
sulting song  at  the  coronation  festivities — the  birth  of 
Elizabeth,  Bacon's  mother,  and  the  King's  disappointment 
that  the  princess  was  not  a  prince.  Later  there  is  the 
King's  fickleness,  which  prompted  the  false  charges  against 
his  wife — the  mockery  of  the  trial — the  true  nobleness  of 
the  victim — the  injustice  of  her  condemnation — the  pa- 
thetic message  to  the  King,  as  she  was  led  to  the  scaffold — 
the  cruelty  of  her  execution. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Bacon  felt  this  deeply,  nor  that 
"every  act  and  scene  is  a  tender  sacrifice,  and  an  incense  to 
her  sweet  memory." 

ELIZABETH  WELLS  GALLUP. 

Detroit,  November,  1901. 


34 


AEGUMENT  OF  THE  PLAY. 

As  mav  bee  well  knowne  unto  you,  th'  questio'  of  Eliza- 
beth, her  legitimacie,  made  her  a  Protestant,  for  the  Pope 
had  not  recognis'd  th'  union,  tho'  it  were  royale,  which  her 
sire  made  with  fajre  Anne  Boleyn.  Still  we  may  see  that 
despite  some  restraining  feare,  it  suited  her  to  dallie  with 
the  question,  to  make  a  faint  shew  of  settling  the  mater  as 
her  owne  co'sie'ce  dictated,  if  we  take  th'  decisions  of 
facts;  but  the  will  of  th'  remorse-tost  king  left  no  doubt 
in  men's  minds  concerning  th'  former  marriage,  in  fact,  as 
th'  crowne  was  giv'n  first  to  Mary,  his  daughter  of  that 
marriage,  before  commi'g  to  Elizabeth. 

In  th'  storie  of  my  most  infortunate  grandmother,  the 
sweet  ladie  who  saw  not  th'  headsman's  axe  when  shee 
went  forth  proudly  to  her  coronation,  you  shall  read  of  a 
sadnesse  that  touches  me  neere,  partlie  because  of  neere- 
nesse  in  bloud,  partlie  from  a  firme  beliefe  and  trust  in 
her  innocencie.  Therefore  every  act  and  scene  of  tliis  play 
of  which  I  speake,  is  a  tende'  sacrifice,  and  an  incense  to 
her  sweete  memorie.  It  is  a  plea  to  the  generations  to 
come  for  a  just  judgement  upon  her  life,  whilst  also  giving 
the  world  one  of  the  noblest  o'  my  plays,  hidden  in  C^^'hre 
in  many  other  works. 

A  short  argument,  and  likewise  th'  keies,  are  giv'n  to 
ayde  th'  decypherer  when  it  is  to  be  work'd  out  as  I  wish. 
This  doth  tell  th'  story  with  sufiicient  clearnes  to  guide  you 
to  our  hidden  storie. 

This  opeth  at  th'  palace,  when  King  Henry  for  the 
first  time  cometh  truely  under  the  spell  of  her  beautie, — 
then  in  th'  highest  perfection  of  dainty  grace,  fresh,  un- 
spoiled,— and    the    charmc    of   yoiithlie    manners.      It    is 


35 


XVIII  ARGUMENT. 

thought  this  was  that  inquisition  which  brought  out  feares 
regarding  th'  marriage  contracted  with  Katharine  of  Arra- 
gon,  so  that  none  greatly  wond'red  whe'  prolonged  consul- 
tation of  the  secret  voyce  in  his  soule  assur'd  the  questioner 
noe  good  could  ever  come  from  the  union.  Acti'g  upon 
this  conviction  he  doth  confer  money  and  titles  upon  his 
last  choise  to  quiet  objections  on  score  of  unmeetnes. 

But  tho'  an  irksome  thing,  truth  shall  be  told.  Tho'  it 
be  ofttimes  a  task, — if  selfe-imposed,  not  by  any  meanes 
th'  lesse,  but  more  wearisome,  since  the  work  hath  noe 
voyce  of  approvall  or  praise, — I  intend  its  completion.  For 
many  simple  causes  th'  historic  of  a  man's  life  cometh 
from  acts  that  we  see  through  stayned  glasse  darkelie,  and 
of  th'  other  sexe,  a  man  doth  perceyve  lesse,  if  possible, 
but  th'  picture  that  I  shall  heere  give  is  limn'd  most  care- 
fully. However  m'  pen  hath  greatly  digress'd,  and  Lo 
returne. 

Despite  this  mark  of  royall  favour,  a  grave  matter  like 
the  divorcement  of  a  royall  spouse  to  wed  a  maide,  suited 
not  with  fayre  Anne's  notions  of  justice,  and  with  a  sweete 
grace  she  made  answere  when  the  King  sued  for  favour : — 
"I  am  not  high  in  birth  as  would  befit  a  Queene,  but  I  am. 
too  good  to  become  your  mistresse."  So  there  was  no  waye 
to  compasse  his  desires  save  to  wring  a  decree  out  o'  th' 
Pope  and  wed  th'  maide,  not  a  jot  regarding  her  answer 
unlesse  to  bee  the  more  eager  to  have  his  waye. 

Th'  love  Lord  Percy  shew'd  my  lady,  although  so 
frankly  return'd,  kept  the  wish  turning,  turning  as  a  rest- 
less mill.  Soone  he  resolv'd  on  proof  of  his  owne  spirit,  doe 
th'  Pope  how  he  might,  and  securing  a  civill  decree,  pri- 
vately wedded  th'  too  youthf uU  Anne,  and  hid  her  for  space 
of  sever  all  dales  untill  th'  skies  could  somewhat  cleare ;  but 
when  th'  earlie  sumer  came,  in  hope  that  there  might 
soone  bee  borne  to  them  an  heyre  of  th'  desir'd  kinde, 


36 


OF  THE  PLAY.  XIX 

order'd  willinglie  her  coronation  sparing  noe  coste  to  make 
it  outvie  anie  other. 

And  when  she  was  borne  along,  surrounded  by  soft 
white  tissew,  shielded  by  a  canopie  of  white,  whilst  she  is 
wafted  onwards,  you  would  say  an  added  charme  were  to 
paint  the  lillie,  or  give  the  rose  perfume. 

This  was  onely  th'  beginning  of  a  triumph,  bright  as 
briefe, — in  a  short  space  'twas  ore.  Henry  chose  to  con- 
sider th'  infant  princesse  in  the  light  of  great  anger  of  a 
just  God  brought  upon  him  for  his  sinnes,  but  bearing  this 
with  his  daring  spirit,  he  compelleth  the  Actes  of  Suprem- 
acy and  Succession,  which  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the 
Church  of  England,  in  th'  one  case,  and  made  his  heires 
by  Queene  Anne  th'  successours  to  th'  throne.  Untill  that 
time,  onely  male  heyres  had  succeeded  to  th'  roiall  power 
and  the  act  occasioned  much  surprise  amongst  our  nobilitie. 

But  Henry  rested  not  the'.  The  lovelinesse  of  Anne 
and  her  natural  opennesse  of  manner,  so  potent  to  winne 
th'  weake  heart  o'  th'  King,  awaken'd  suspition  and  much 
cruell  jealousie  when  hee  saw  th'  gay  courtiers  yielding  to 
th'  spell  of  gracefull  gentility, — heighten'd  by  usage  for- 
rayn,  as  also  at  th'  English  Court.  But  if  truth  be  said, 
th'  fancy  had  taken  him  to  pay  lovi'g  court  unto  the  faire 
Jane  Seymour,  who  was  more  beautiful!,  and  quite  young, 
— but  also  most  ordinary  as  doth  regard  personall  manner, 
and  th'  qualitie  that  made  th'  Queene  so  pleasing, — Lady 
Jane  permitting  marks  of  gracious  favour  t'  be  freelie 
offered. 

And  the  Queene,  unfortunately  for  her  secret  hope, 
surpris'd  them  in  a  tender  scene.  Sodaine  grief  e  orewhelm- 
ing  her  so  viole'tlie,  she  swound  before  them,  and  a  little 
space  thereafter  the  infant  sonne  so  constantly  desir'd, 
borne  untimely,  disappointed  once  more  this  selfish  mon- 
arch. This  threw  him  into  great  fury,  so  that  he  was 
cruellie  harsh  where  [he]   should  give  comfort  and  sup- 


37 


XX  ARGUMENT. 

port,  throwing  so  much  blame  upon  the  gentle  Queene, 
that  her  heart  dyed  within  her  not  long  after  soe  sadde 
ending  of  a  mother,  her  hopes. 

Under  pretexte  of  beleeving  gentle  Queene  Anne  to  be 
guilty  of  unf  aithfullnesse,  Henry  had  her  convey' d  to  Lon- 
don Tower,  and  subjected  her  to  such  ignominy  as  one  can 
barelie  beleeve,  ev'n  basely  laying  to  her  charge  the 
gravest  sins,  and  summoning  a  jury  of  peeres  delivered  the 
Queene  for  tryal  and  sentence.  His  act  doth  blacken 
pitch.  Ev'n  her  father,  sitting  amidst  the  peeres  before 
whom  shee  was  tried,  exciteth  not  so  much  astonishment 
since  hee  was  forc'd  thereto. 

Henry's  will  was  done,  but  hardly  could  hee  restraine 
the  impatience  that  sent  him  forth  from  his  pallace  at  th' 
hour  of  her  execution  to  an  eminence  neare  by,  in  order 
to  catche  th'  detonation  (ation)  of  th'  field  peece  whose 
hollow  tone  tolde  the  moment  at  which  th'  cruell  axe  fell, 
and  see  the  blacke  flag,  that  signall  Avhich  floated  wide  to 
tell  the  world  she  breath'd  no  more. 

Th'  hast  with  which  hee  then  went  forward  with  his 
marriage,  proclaym'd  the  reall  rigor  or  frigidity  of  his 
hart.  It  is  by  all  men  accompted  strange,  this  subtile 
power  by  w^hich  soe  many  of  the  peeres  could  be  forc'd  to 
passe  sentence  upon  this  lady,  when  proofes  of  guilt  were 
nowhere  to  bee  produced.  In  justice  to  a  memorie  dear 
to  myselfe,  I  must  aver  that  it  is  far  from  cleare  yet,  upon 
what  charge  shee  was  found  worthie  of  death.  It  must  of 
neede  have  beene  some  quiddet  of  th'  lawe,  that  chang'd 
some  harmlesse  words  into  anything  one  had  in  minde,  for 
in  noe  other  waye  could  speech  of  hers  be  made  wrongf  ull. 
Having  fayl'd  to  prove  her  untrue,  nought  could  bring 
about  such  a  resulte,  had  this  not  (have)  beene  accom- 
plish'd. 

Thu%  w^as  her  good  fame  made  a  reproache,  and  time 
hath  not  given  backe  that  priceles  treasure.     If    my  plaie 


38 


OF  THE  PLAY.  XXI 

shal  shew  tliis  most  clearly,  I  shall  be  co'tente.  And  as 
for  my  roiall  grandsire,  whatever  honour  hath  beene  lost 
by  such  a  course,  is  re-gain'd  by  his  descendants  from  the 
union,  through  this  lovi'g  justification  of  Anne  Bulle',  his 
murther'd  Queene. 

Before  I  go  further  with  instructions,  I  make  bold  to 
say  that  th'  benefits  we  who  now  live  in  our  free  England 
reape  [are]  from  her  faith  and  unfayling  devotion  to  th' 
advancement,  that  she  herselfe  promoting,  beheld  well 
undertaken.  It  was  her  most  earnest  beliefe  in  this  re- 
markable and  widelie  spread  effecte  on  th'  true  prosperitie 
of  the  realme,  and  not  a  love  o'  dignity  or  power, — if  the 
evidence  of  workes  be  taken, — that  co'strain'd  her  to  take 
upon  her  th'  responsibility  of  roialtie.  And  I  am  fullie 
perswaded  in  mine  owne  minde  that  had  shee  lived  to  carry 
out  all  th'  work,  her  honours,  no  doubt,  had  outvied  those 
of  her  world-wide  famed  and  honour'd  daughter  who  con- 
tinu'd  that  which  had  beene  so  well  commenc'd. 

I  am  aware  many  artes  waned  in  the  raignes  of 
Edward  and  bloodie  Mary,  also  that  their  recovery  must 
have  requir'd  patient  attention  and  the  expenditure  of 
money  my  mother  had  no  desire  so  to  imploy,  having  many 
other  things  at  that  time  by  which  th'  coffers  were  drayn'd 
subtly ;  but  that  it  must  require  f arre  greater  perseverance 
in  order  to  begin  so  noble  work,  devising  th'  plannes  and 
ayding  in  their  execution,  cannot  be  impugn'd.  Many 
times  these  things  do  not  shewe  lightness  or  th'  vanitie 
which  some  have  laid  to  her  charge. 

However  th'  play  doth  reveale  this  better,  f  arre,  then  1 
wish  t'  give  it  in  this  Cypher,  therefore  I  begge  that  it 
shall  bee  written  out  and  kept  as  a  perpetual  monument  of 
my  wrong'd,  but  innocent  ancestresse. 

My  keies  mentio'd  in  the  beginning  of  this  most  help- 
full  work,  will  follow  in  this  place : — 


39 


XXII  KEYS  OF  THE  PLAY. 

The  King  Henry  Sevent,  Kath'rine  th'  Infanta, 
Prince  Arthur,  Catholicke  Spaine,  Prince  of  Wales,  King 
Henry  th'  Eight,  Rome,  nu'cio,  Pope,  Protestant,  Anne 
Bullen,  prelate,  Wolsej,  divorce,  fury,  excommunication, 
Prance,  Francis  First,  marriage,  ceremony,  brother,  pa- 
geant, barge,  Richmond,  Greenwich,  Tower,  procession, 
cloth,  tissue,  panoply,  canopy,  cloth  o'  gold,  litter,  bearing- 
staves,  pageant,  streets,  coronation,  crowne  of  Edward, 
purple  robe,  roiall  ermine,  mace,  th'  sword,  wand,  esses, 
French,  Spanish  ambassadours,  advance-guards,  mayor, 
dutchesse,  Duke  Suffolke,  ISTorfolke,  Marquesse  Dorset, 
Bishop  London,  same  Winchester,  th'  Knights  of  th'  Gar- 
ter, Lord  Chancellour,  judges,  Surrey,  Earle,  quirrestres, 
lords,  ladies,  et  al.,  Westminster,  Rochford,  Wiltshire, 
manors,  castles,  land,  valew,  titles,  Marchionesse  of  Pem- 
brooke,  ports,  countesses,  roiall  scepter,  stile,  power,  title, 
pompe,  realme,  artes,  advancement,  liberty,  treasure,  warre, 
treaty,  study,  benefit,  trade,  priest,  monastery,  restitution, 
acts,  supremacy,  succession,  Elizabeth,  daughter,  sonne, 
heyres,  unfaithfulnesse,  treason,  ISTorris,  Weston,  subtile 
triumph,  hate,  losse,  evill,  jealousie,  love,  beautie,  Tower, 
tryall,  proofe,  sentry,  sentence,  executed,  burning,  choyce, 
the  axe,  block,  uncover'd  face,  report,  black-flag,  freedom, 
marriage-vow,  Edward. 

As  hath  most  frequentlie  bin  said  these  will  write  th' 
play,  but  th'  foregoing  abridgeme't,  or  argument,  wil  ayde 
you.  In  good  hope  of  saving  th'  same  from  olde  Father 
Time's  ravages,  heere  have  I  hidden  this  Cypher  play.  To 
you  I  entruste  th'  taske  I,  myselfe,  shall  never  see  com- 
plete, it  is  probable,  but  soe  firme  is  my  conviction  that  it 
must  before  long  put  up  its  leaves  like  th'  plant  in  th' 
sunne,  that  I  rest  contente  awaiting  that  time. 


40 


CONCERNING    THE 

Bi-LiTERAL  Cypher 


PROS  AND  CONS 
OF   THE  CONTROVERSY 


THE  BI-LITEKAL  CYPHEE  OF  EEAI^CIS  BACO^^. 

ARTICLES   FROM   MAGAZINES   AND   OTHER   SOURCES. 

In  the  following  pages  will  be  found  the  statement  of  its 
discovery  in  the  Works  of  Bacon,  and  discussions  by  the  public 
Press.  Inquries,  objections  and  answers  from  so  many  different 
points  of  view  would  seem  to  cover  every  phase  of  the  matter. 
Unreasoning  prejudice  is,  of  course,  beyond  reply.  To  those 
of  open  mind  this  exposition  of  the  discovery  will  be  most  in- 
teresting. Its  importance  cannot  be  overestimated.  A  new 
literature,  buried  these  three  hundred  years,  as  interesting  as  it 
it  surprising,  has  been  imearthed.  Its  authenticity  is  placed 
beyond  question. 


BI-LITEEAL  CYPHER  OF  FRANCIS  BACOX. 

BACONIAlSrA. 

To  thousands  who  tread  unthinkingly  the  earth's  fair  sur- 
face, the  mineral  constitution  of  the  globe,  or  the  history  of  its 
formation,  is  as  a  sealed  book.  The  geologist,  however, 
pointing  out  the  parallel  lines  in  a  rock  will  tell  us  they  indicate 
the  glacial  period.  From  a  piece  of  coal  he  will  describe  the 
forests  and  plant  life  which  formed  the  coal  measures  of  the 
carboniferous  era.  He  finds  where  volcanic  action  reveals 
strata  from  unknown  depths,  and  reads  their  history  like  a 
printed  page. 

In  architecture,  the  ages  stamped,  each  its  own,  peculi- 
arities upon  column  and  temple,  and  the  student  of  that  science 
will  declare  the  date  of  the  ruins  which  accident  or  excavation 
have  brought  to  view. 

We  see  a  tapering  obelisk  inscribed  with  hieroglyphics,  and 
say  this  is  Egyptian.  The  eye  educated  to  discriminate  will 
study  the  writings  upon  the  stone  that  has  been  preserved  from 
remote  ages,  and  will  say,  this  is  the  hieroglyphic  proper;  this 
ideographic;  this  the  phonetic,  or  of  this  or  that  peculiar 
character,  this  is  the  Egyptian  Hieratic;  this  the  Phcenecian; 
these  the  Cuniform  characters  of  the  ancient  Persian  or 
Assyrian  inscriptions,  and  few  will  challenge  the  correctness 
of  the  decipherings. 

The  savant  will  tell  us  that  the  environment,  the  nationality 
and  personality  are  unmistakably  impressed  upon  the  literature 
of  every  country,  mark  the  times  and  character  of  its  people 
and  the  stage  of  its  progress.  Year  by  year,  decade  by  decade, 
age  by  age.  time  passed  and  wrought  its  changes  until  that 
period  was  reached  in  v/hich  the  English  people  of  the  present 
day  are  interested  because  of  the  discussion  which  it  has 
aroused — the  latter  part  of  the  XVIth  and  beginning  of  the 
XVHth  Centuries.  Knighthood  had  passed  its  flower  but  the 
English  Court  still  loved  the  tales  of  Knightly  deeds  and  found 


43 


delight  in  the  fancies  of  the  Shepheard's  Calender  and  Faerie 
Queene.  Legitimate  drama  began  to  develop,  replacing 
masques  and  mysteries.  History  was  written  and  its  lessons 
emphasized  by  dramatic  representations.  Essays  brought  the 
truth  ''home  to  men's  bosoms  and  business,"  and  experimental 
science  made  clear  that  "there  are  more  things  in  heaven  and 
earth  than  are  dreamt  of  in  our  philosophy." 

This  was  the  age  when  Francis  Bacon  lived  and  wrote,  and 
fantasy,  and  essay,  and  drama  began  to  appear,  at  first 
anonymously,  and  then  under  names  of  men  as  authors,  whose 
lives,  habits  and  capabilities  presented  the  most  incongruous 
contrasts  to  the  works  produced.  They  were  days  of  peril  and 
secret  intrigue,  when  the  words  from  the  lips  of  the  Courtier 
were  often  farthest  removed  from  the  thought  of  the  brain, 
and  when  all  secret  communications  were  committed  to  cipher. 

Of  all  the  weighty  secrets  of  that  time,  none  save  the  Queen 
of  England  herself  bore  any  more  momentous  than  that  pro- 
lific author.  So  momentous  were  they  that  few  traces  of  their 
import  found  place  upon  the  public  records  in  connected  or 
intelligible  form,  and  were  supposed  to  have  died  with  those 
most  intimately  connected  with  them. 

Bacon  placed  in  his  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum  the  key  to  a 
simple  but  most  useful  Cipher,  of  his  own  invention,  and  we 
now  find  that  through  its  instrumentality  the  secrets  so 
jealously  guarded  in  his  life  time,  were  committed  to  his  works, 
and  waited  only  the  hand  and  vision  of  a  decipherer  to  be 
revealed  to  the  ages  which  should  follow. 

Because  the  writer  of  this  article  has  for  seven  years  worked 
upon  the  Ciphers  of  Bacon,  not  as  a  dilettante,  but  as  one  who 
realized  the  importance  and  vastness  of  the  undertaking,  urged 
on  by  the  fascination  of  a  great  discovery  and  a  growing 
interest  in  the  developments  of  it,  the  statements  made  con- 
cerning the  "Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon"  are  not 
"uninspired  guesses,"  nor  mere  conjecture,  but  such  as  come 
from  knowledge  gained  by  the  hardest  work  and  closest  appli- 
cation, until  the  eye  has  been  trained  to  that  degree  of  dis- 
crimination by  which,  like  that  of  the  geologist,  it  is  able  to 
make  hidden  things  plain. 

In  pursuit  of  the  same  objects  as  other  students  of  things 
Baconian,  my  own  investigations  have  been  in  quite  a  different 
field  from  theirs,  and  have  met  with  most  successful,  as  well  as 


44 


most  surprising  results,  not  less  surprising  to  myself,  than  they 
will  be  to  my  readers.  I  have  been  glad  to  submit  the  results  of 
my  years  of  study  for  the  edification  of  those  interested  in  the 
same  subject,  for  they  supply  missing  links  in  the  literature 
of  that  era  and  explain  much,  if  not  all,  that  has  been 
mysterious  and  difficult  of  explanation. 

The  last  two  numbers  of  Baconiana  have  presented  varied 
comments  upon  the  published  results  of  my  investigations. 
Naturally  opinions  differ,  according  to  the  point  of  view. 
Although  the  things  discovered  and  brought  to  light  are  those 
which  have  been  so  diligently  sought  for,  and  believed  to  exist 
by  the  deepest  students,  yet  the  wider  field  unexpectedly  dis- 
closed and  the  marvelousness  of  it  all,  prompt  to  incredulity. 

The  objections  urged  against  a  belief  in  the  cipher  dis- 
closures appear  in  a  variety  of  forms.  The  astounding 
revelations  are  beyond  the  dreams  of  the  most  ardent  believers 
that  Bacon's  sphere  of  action  and  achievements  were  far 
greater  than  had  been  acknowledged,  and  some  have  gone  so 
far  as  to  think  the  recent  publication  of  the  "Bi-literal  Cypher" 
must  have  been  a  romantic  creation  of  my  own,  the  words  made 
to  fit  the  differing  forms  of  the  Italic  letters  in  the  old  books, 
and  written  out  in  imitation  of  the  forms  of  thought  and 
manner  of  speech  of  the  old  English  language,  enriched  by  the 
vocabulary  of  the  great  Francis.  To  suggest  such  a  thing, 
with  all  that  it  implies,  would  bring  its  own  refutation. 

It  is  true  that  the  Cipher  Story  does  not  in  all  respects  accord, 
or  stop  with  what  has  been  supposed  to  be  the  "facts  of 
history."  Authorities  do  not  agree  as  to  what  the  "facts" 
were,  nor  is  it  believed  that  all  have  found  place  on  the  records, 
and  historians  have  filled  gaps  with  deductions  and  conjectures, 
some  of  which  have  been  most  extravagant  and  impossible. 
Especially  does  this  appear  to  be  true  in  the  light  of  the  cipher 
disclosures,  and  whatever  of  variation  there  may  be  will 
furnish  a  profitable  field  for  the  investigators,  and  there  is  little 
reason  to  doubt  their  ultimate  harmony.  Cyphers  would  not 
be  used  to  hide  known  facts,  and  could  be  useful  only  in 
recording  those  that  had  been  suppressed. 

Some  have  given  expression  to  the  thought  that  the  Cipher 
Story  shows  a  most  unpleasant  phase  of  character  in  Bacon, 
and  a  lack  of  that  princely  spirit  which  should  have  actuated 
the  son  of  Elizabeth,  entitled  to  the  throne,  in  not  trying  to 


45 


possess  himself  of  royal  power  at  any  cost.  Essex,  of  a  more 
martial  spirit,  essayed  to  seize  it,  when  Francis  refused  to 
make  open  claim  to  being  Prince,  in  the  face  of  the  denials  of 
the  Queen, — and  Essex  was  beheaded  for  the  attempt.  The 
murder  of  two  princes  of  the  blood  royal  by  Richard  Third; 
the  imprisonment  and  execution  of  another,  by  Henry 
Seventh;  the  juggling  with  all  rights  by  Henry  Eighth,  were 
not  remote, — quite  near  enough  to  chill  the  blood  of  the  peace- 
loving  student  and  deter  him  from  making  himself  sufficiently 
obnoxious  to  invite  a  similar  fate.  Later,  his  own  account, 
in  the  Cipher,  of  the  reasons  for  not  striving  to  establish  him- 
self upon  the  throne  appear  quite  adequate, — the  succession 
established  by  law,  and  quite  satisfactory  to  the  people, — "our 
witnesses  dead,  our  certificates  destroyed,"  etc.,  (pages  33,  38, 
47,  201,  and  other  references).  He  submitted  to  the  inevitable 
as  did  Prince  Napoleon,  and  as  others  have  done  in  our  own 
time, — for  "what  will  not  a  man  yield  up  for  his  life." 

Whether  or  not  Bacon  has  "told  the  truth"  in  the  Cipher, 
is  not  in  the  province  of  the  decipherer  to  discuss.  A  decipherer 
can  only  disclose  what  is  infolded.  As  to  "slandering  the 
Queen"  in  the  statements  which  the  Cipher  records, — if  so, 
,  Bacon  would  not  be  alone,  for  the  old  MSS,  and  as  reliable  and 
recent  an  authority  as  the  National  Dictionary  of  Biography 
admit  the  motherhood  of  Elizabeth,  though  they  do  not  give 
the  names  of  the  offspring.  This  is  supplied  by  the  Cipher, 
written  by  the  one  person  most  likely  to  know.  If  the  Cipher 
exists,  and  we  know  that  it  does,  there  must  be  some  more 
reasonable  theory  for  its  being  written  into  so  many  pub- 
lished books  for  more  than  fifty  years,  than  for  the  purpose  of 
slander  or  falsification.  The  peril  of  its  discovery  in  the  early 
days  of  its  infolding  would  be  enhanced  by  its  being  a  slander, 
and  the  head  would  have  "stood  tickle  on  the  shoulders"  of 
anyone  guilty  of  so  causeless  a  crime. 

Francis  would  have  been  more  "lunatic"  for  risking  such 
matter  in  cipher  if  not  true,  than  "coward"  for  not  daring 
openly  to  proclaim  the  truth  which  was  being  so  carefully 
suppressed. 

Many  inquiries  have  reached  me,  asking  "how  is  the  Cipher 
worked,"  and  expressing  disappointment  that  the  inquirer  had 
been  unable  to  grasp  the  system  or  its  application.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  teach  Greek  or  Sanscrit,  in  a  few  written  lines. 


46 


or  to  learn  it  by  a  few  hours  study.  It  is  equally  so  with  the 
Cipher.  Deciphering  the  Bi-literal  Cipher,  as  it  appears  in 
Bacon's  works,  will  be  impossible  to  those  who  are  not  pos- 
sessed of  an  eyesight  of  the  keenest,  and  perfect  accuracy  of 
vision  in  distinguishing  minute  differences  in  form,  lines, 
angles  and  curves  in  the  printed  letters.  Other  things 
absolutely  essential  are  unlimited  time  and  patience,  per- 
sistency, and  aptitude,  love  for  overcoming  puzzling  difficul- 
ties and,  I  sometimes  think,  inspiration.  As  not  every  one  can 
be  a  poet,  an  artist,  an  astronomer,  or  adept  in  other  branches 
requiring  special  aptitude,  so,  and  for  the  same  reasons,  not 
every  one  will  be  able  to  master  the  intricacies  of  the  Cipher, 
for  in  many  ways  it  is  most  intricate  and  puzzling, — not  in  the 
system  itself,  but  in  its  use  in  the  books.  "It  must  not  be  made 
too  plain  lest  it  be  discovered  too  quickly  nor  hid  too  deep,  lest 
it  never  see  the  light  of  day,"  is  the  substance  of  the  inventor's 
thought  many  times  repeated  in  the  work. 

The  system  has  been  recognized,  and  used,  since  the  day  that 
De  Augmentis  was  published,  and  has  had  its  place  in  every 
translation  and  publication  since,  but  the  ages  have  waited  to 
learn  that  it  was  embedded  in  the  original  books  themselves 
from  the  date  of  his  earliest  writings  (1579  as  now  known) 
and  infolded  his  secret  personal  history.  To  disbelieve  the 
Cipher  because  not  "every  one"  can  decipher  it,  would  be  as 
great  a  mistake  as  it  would  be  to  say  that  the  translations  of  the 
character  writings  and  hieroglyphics  of  older  times,  which  have 
been  deciphered,  were  without  foundation  or  significance, 
because  we  could  not  ourselves  master  them  in  a  few  hours  of 
inefficient  trial.  I  would  repeat.  Ciphers  are  used  to  hide 
things,  not  to  make  them  plain. 

The  different  editions  of  the  same  work  form  each  a  separate  ' 
study  and  tell  a  different  Cipher  Story.  The  two  editions  of 
De  Augmentis  form  an  illustration.  The  first,  or  "London" 
edition,  was  issued,  according  to  Spedding,  in  October,  1623. 
The  next,  or  "Paris"  edition,  was  issued  in  1624.  They  differ 
in  the  Italic  printing,  and  some  errors  in  the  second  do  not 
occur  in  the  first.  The  1624  edition  has  been  deciphered;  and 
the  hidden  story  appears  in  the  "Bi-literal  Cypher"  (page  310). 
The  1623  edition  has  not,  as  yet,  been  deciphered.  It  seems  to 
be  a  rare  edition.  I  found  a  copy  in  the  British  Museum,  one  in 
the  Bodleian  library  at  Oxford,  two  in  Cambridge,  and  one  in 


47 


the  choice  collection  of  old  books  in  the  library  of  Sir  Edwin 
Burning  Lawrence. 

In  the  course  of  my  work,  Marlowe's  Edward  Second  had 
been  deciphered  before  De  Augmentis  was  taken  up.  At  the 
end  of  Edward  Second  occurs  this  "veiled"  statement, 
referring  to  De  Augmentis  (page  152  Bi-literal  Cypher)  ".  . 
,  .  the  story  it  contains  (our  twelft  king's  nativity  since 
our  sovereign,  whose  tragedy  we  relate  in  this  way)  shall  now 
know  the  day  .  . "  Had  Francis  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
he  would  have  been  the  twelfth  king  (omitting  the  queens) 
after  Edward  Second,  hence  the  inference  that  De  Augmentis 
would  contain  much  of  his  personal  history.  My  disappoint- 
ment was  great  when  instead  of  this  the  hidden  matter  was 
found  to  be  the  Argument  of  the  Odyssey,  something  not 
anticipated,  or  wanted,  and  would  never  have  been  the  result  of 
my  own  choice  or  imagination.  At  the  close  of  the  deciphered 
work  in  Burton's  Anatomy,  in  which  the  Argument  of  the  Iliad 
was  most  unexpectedly  found — another  great  disappoint- 
ment— is  this  "veiled"  statement:  (page  309)  ".  .  .  while 
a  Latin  work — De  Augmentis — will  give  aid  upon  the  other 
(meaning  the  Odyssey).  As  in  this  work  (meaning  the  Iliad) 
favorite  parts  are  enlarged  (in  blank  verse)  yet  as  it  lendeth 
ayde  .  .  .,"  etc., — i.  e.,  sets  a  pattern  for  the  writing  out  of 
the  Odyssey  in  the  Word  Cipher.  This  explained  the  1624  edi- 
tion, and  the  inference  is  that  the  1623  edition  will  disclose  the 
personal  history  referred  to  on  page  152. 

In  the  1624  edition  there  are  some  errors  in  the  illustration 
of  the  cipher  methods  and  in  the  Cicero  Epistle  which  do  not 
occur  in  the  1623  edition.  The  Latin  words  midway  on  page 
282,  "qui  pauci  sunt"  in  the  1623  edition,  are  "qui  parati  sunt" 
in  the  1624,  page  309, — an  error  referred  to  on  page  10  of  the 
Introduction  of  the  "Bi-literal  Cypher"  as  wrong  termination, 
there  being  too  many  letters  for  the  group,  and  one  letter  must 
be  omitted.  Other  variations  show  errors  in  making  up  the 
forms  on  pages  307  and  308  in  the  1624  edition,  whether  pur- 
posely for  confusion  or  otherwise,  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  The 
line  on  page  307, 

"Bxemplum  Alphabeti  Biformis," 
should  be  placed  above  the  Bi-formed  Alphabet  on  page  308, 
while 

"Bxemplum  Accommodationis" 


48 


should  be  placed  above  the  example  of  the  adaptation  just  pre- 
ceding. The  repetition  of  twelve  letters  of  the  bi-formed  alpha- 
bet could  hardly  be  called  a  printer's  error,  as  they  are  of 
another  form,  unlike  those  on  the  preceding  page,  and  may  be 
taken  as  an  example  of  the  statement  that  "any  two  forms  will 
do."  In  these  illustrations  the  letters  seem  to  be  drawn  with  a 
pen  and  are  a  mixture  of  script  and  peculiar  forms,  and  unlike 
any  in  the  regular  fonts  of  type  used  in  the  printed  matter.  No 
part  of  the  Cipher  Story  is  embodied  in  the  script  or  pen  letters 
on  these  pages.  Whether  or  not  the  changing  of  the  lines  was 
done  purposely,  the  grouping  of  the  Italic  letters  from  the 
regular  fonts  is  consecutive  as  the  printed  lines  stand,  the 
wrong  make-up  causing  no  break  in  the  connected  narration. 
There  are  many  "veiled"  statements  throughout  the  "Bi-literal 
Cypher,"  such  as  are  noted  in  Edward  Second  and  in  Burton. 
To  the  decipherer  they  have  a  meaning,  indicating  what  to  look 
for  and  where  to  find  that  which  is  necessary  for  correct  and 
completed  work,  as  well  as  to  guard  against  errors  and  incor- 
rect translation. 

My  researches  among  the  old  books  in  the  British  Museum 
the  past  season  have  borne  rich  fruit,  for  there  were  found  the 
earlier  cipher  writings.  Shepheard's  Calendar,  which  appeared 
anonymously  in  1579,  contains  the  first,  and  discloses  the  signi- 
fication of  the  mysterious  initials  "E.  K."  and  the  identity  of 
this  person  with  the  author  of  the  work.  The  Cipher  narrative 
begins  thus :  "E.  K.  will  be  found  to  be  nothing  less  than  the 
letters  signifying  the  future  Sovereign,  or  England's  King.  . 
.  .  In  event  of  death  of  Her  Ma.,  who  bore  in  honorable 
wedlock,  Robert,  now  known  as  sonne  to  Walter  Devereaux, 
as  well  as  him  who  now  speaketh  to  the  unknown  aidant 
decypherer  .  .  .  we,  the  eldest  borne  should  by  Divine 
right  of  a  law  of  God,  and  made  binding  on  man,  inherit 
scepter  and  throne.  .  .  .  We  devised  two  Cyphers,  now 
used  for  the  first  time,  for  this  said  history,  as  safe,  clear  and 
undecipherable,  whilst  containing  the  keys  in  each  which  open 
the  most  important.  .  .  .  Till  a  decypherer  find  a  pre- 
pared or  readily  discovered  alphabet,  it  seemeth  to  us  almost 
impossible,  save  by  Divine  gift  and  heavenly  instinct,  that  he 
should  be  able  to  read  what  is  thus  revealed." 

Following  Shepheard's  Calender,  the  works  between  1579 
and  1590,  so  far  deciphered  (but  as  yet  unpublished)  are: 

49 


Arraignement  of  Paris,  1584. 

Mirrour  of  Modestie,  1584. 

Planetomachia,  1585. 

Treatise  of  Melancholy,  1586.  Two  editions  of  this  were 
issued  the  same  year,  with  differing  Italics.  The  first  ends 
with  an  incomplete  cipher  word  which  is  completed  in  the 
second  for  the  continued  narration,  thus  making  evident  which 
was  first  published,  unless  they  were  published  at  the  same 
time. 

Euphues,  1587;  Morando,  1587.  These  two  also  join 
together,  with  an  incomplete  word  at  the  end  of  the  first  finding 
its  completion  in  the  commencement  of  the  Cipher  in  the  second. 

Perimedls  the  Blacke-smith,  1588;  Pandosto,  1588.  These 
two  also  join  together. 

Spanish  Masquerado,  1589.  Two  editions  of  this  work  bear 
date  the  same  year,  but  have  different  Italicising.  In  one  edition 
the  Cipher  Story  is  complete,  closing  with  the  signature :  "Fr. 
Prince."  In  the  other  the  story  is  not  complete,  the  book 
ending  with  an  incomplete  cipher  word,  the  remainder  of  which 
will  be  found  in  some  work  of  near  that  date  which  has  not  yet 
been  indicated  and  deciphered. 

These,  while  not  all  the  works  in  which  Cipher  will  be  found 
between  the  years  1579  and  1590,  unmistakably  connect  the 
earlier  writings  with  those  of  later  date  than  1590  which  have 
been  deciphered — as  published  in  the  "Bi-literal  Cypher" — so 
that  we  now  know  that  the  Cipher  writings  were  being  con- 
tinuously infolded  in  Bacon's  works,  from  the  first  to  the  last 
of  his  literary  productions. 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 


50 


THE  BI-LITERAL  CYPHER  OF  SIR  FRAXCIS  BACOX. 

A  NEW  LIGHT  ON  A  FEW  OLD  BOOKS. 

By  Elizabeth  Wj:lls  Gallup. 

[Mrs.  Gallup  professes  to  And  in  certain  of  Bacon's  works,  the  first 
folio  of  Shakespeare,  and  other  books  of  the  period,  tivo  distinctive 
founts  of  italic  type  employed.  All  the  letters  of  one  fount  stand  for 
the  letter  a  in  the  cipher,  those  of  the  other  for  b.  Hence  it  is  pos- 
sible to  translate,  as  it  were,  any  given  line  of  type  into  a  series  of 
abbba,  abaab,  baaba,  abaaa.  and  so  on,  according  to  the  type  employed, 
and  thereby,  to  spell  out  words  and  sentences  in  accordance  zvith  the 
principles  laid  down  by  Bacon  himself  in  his  account  of  the  so-called 
"Bi-literal"  cypher  in  his  "De  Augmentis  Scientiarium."  In  a  further 
article  which  she  is  now  preparing  Mrs.  Gallup  will  deal  zvith  a 
number  of  the  individual  writers  who  have  taken  part  in  the  Bacon- 
Shakespeare  controversy  during  the  last  fezv  zveeks,  zvhose  criticisnts. 
we  learn  by  cablegram,  and  only  nozu  before  her.  This  preliminary 
paper  will  enable  our  readers  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  nature 
of  Mrs.  Gallup' s  laborious  investigations. — Ed.  P.  M.  M.]. 

Pall  Mall  Magazixe,  March,  1902. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  respond  to  the  cabled  invitation  from  the 
Pall  Mall  Magazine  to  write  an  article  upon  the  ''Bacon- 
Shakespeare  Controversy,"  alfhouch  I  have  really  never  been 
concerned  with  it,  except  incidentally.  I  did  not  find  myself 
a  Baconian  until  the  discovery  of  the  Bacon  ciphers  answered 
the  questions  in  such  a  final  way  that  controversy  should  end. 

I  think  my  best  plan  will  be  to  give  a  clear,  authoritative, 
and  somewhat  popular  exposition  of  my  book,  The  Bi-literal 
Cypher  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  which  was  recently  very  kindly 
and  appreciatively  reviewed  by  Mr.  Mallock  in  the  Nweteenth 
Cenhiry  and  After.  I  had  not  the  pleasure  of  knowins;  Mr.  Mal- 
lock, and  his  article  was  wliolly  a  surprise. 

In  giving  to  tlie  world  the  results  of  my  researches,  I  have 
felt,  as  have  my  publishers,  that  my  work  should  be  left  with- 
out attempt  upon  our  part  to  influence  or  mould  opinion  in 
any  way  otlier  than  by  setting  forth  what  I  have  found. 

61 


Some  one  has  said,  "any  man's  opinion  is  the  measure  of 
his  knowledge."  If  his  knowledge  is  ample  his  judgment  should 
be  true,  and  I  am  well  aware  there  has  been  little  opportunity 
for  men  of  letters  or  the  reading  public  to  know  about  this  new 
phase  of  the  old  subject. 

The  book  itself  is  much  wider  in  its  range,  and  much  more 
far-reaching  in  its  literary  and  historical  consequences,  than  the 
mere  settlement  of  the  Bacon-Shakespeare  question.  It  con- 
cerns not  only  the  authorship  of  much  of  the  best  literature 
of  the  Elizabethan  period,  but  the  regularity  of  successions  to 
the  throne  of  England ;  and  it  transfers  the  "controversy"  from 
the  realm  of  literary  opinion  and  criticism  to  the  determina- 
tion of  the  question  whether  I  have  correctly  and  truthfully 
transcribed  a  cipher. 

That  this  will  at  once  meet  with  universal  acceptance  is 
not  expected.  On  the  face  of  things  it  seems  improbable — al- 
most as  improbable  to  the  world  as  the  revolution  of  the  earth 
about  the  sun  was  to  Lord  Bacon,  who  declared  it  could  in  no- 
wise be  accepted.  "Galileo  built  his  theory.  .  .supposing  the 
earth  revolved. .  .  .  But  this  he  devised  upon  an  assumption 
that  cannot  be  allowed — viz.  that  the  earth  moves/'  (Nov.  Org.) 

Two  limited  editions  of  the  book  were  published,  mostly 
for  private  circulation,  while  my  researches  were  going  on,  but 
with  little  effort  to  obtain  public  audience,  awaiting  the  time, 
now  arrived,  when  I  could  present  the  first  of  the  cipher  writ- 
ings from  early  editions  of  works  in  the  British  Museum. 

The  interest  it  has  excited  has  been  considerable,  varying 
in  its  expression  from  more  or  less  good-natured  doubts  as  to 
my  sanity  and  veracity,  from  those  who  are  satisfied  with  first 
impressions;  to  the  careful  examination  by  such  writers  as 
Mr.  Mallock  and  some  others  who  have  regarded  it  as  worthy 
of  serious  consideration. 

For  myself,  I  have  been  satisfied  to  wait  for  the  verdict. 
It  will  be  that  I  have  at  great  cost  put  before  the  public  a  most 
detailed  and  elaborate  hoax — or  worse;  or  that  Francis  Bacon 
was  a  cipher  writer  and  the  most  extraordinary  personage  in 
literature  the  world  has  yet  known. 

Assuming  for  the  moment  the  cipher  as  a  fact,  what  are 
the  claims  made  in  it  for  himself?  Briefly,  but  startlingly 
stated,  they  are :     That  he  was  the  author  of  the  works  attribu- 

52 


ted  to  Edmund  Spenser,  and  those  of  Greene,  Peele,  Marlowe, 
and  Shakespeare,  a  portion  of  those  published  by  Ben  Jonson, 
also  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  known  as  Burton's,  besides  the 
works  to  which  Bacon's  name  is  attached;  that  these,  instead 
of  being  in  fact  the  outpourings  of  literary  inspiration,  are  lit- 
erary mosaics,  the  repository  of  other  literature — much  of  it 
then  dangerous  to  Bacon  to  expose — made  consecutive  by  trans- 
position, and  gaining  in  literary  interest  by  the  new  relations. 
The  bi-literal  cipher  gives  the  rules  by  which  the  constituent 
parts  of  these  mosaics  are  to  be  reassembled  in  their  original 
form  by  the  "Svord-cipher,"  so  called,  a  second  system  permeat- 
ing the  same  works  and  hiding  a  larger  and  more  varied  liter- 
ature than  the  first.  It  is  also  asserted  that  Bacon  was  the  true 
heir  to  the  throne  of  England,  through  a  secret  marriage  be- 
tween the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  Elizabeth,  which  took  place 
prior  to  her  accession,  while  both  were  confined  in  the  Tower 
of  London ;  that  for  obvious  reasons  of  state  the  marriage  could 
not  be  announced  before  the  coronation,  and  that  the  Queen 
afterwards  refused  to  acknowledge  it  publicly;  that  the  unfor- 
tunate Essex  was  in  fact  his  younger  brother,  and  the  other- 
wise inexplicable  rebellion  was  undertaken  by  Essex  to  compel 
from  the  Queen  recognition  of  his  descent,  with  expectation 
of  the  throne  if  denied  to,  or  not  claimed  by,  Francis. 

The  personal  matter,  scattered  in  the  hi-literal  cipher 
through  the  numerous  volumes,  is  repeated  in  different  forms 
many  times — evidently  in  the  hope  that  the  claims  asserted  to 
the  throne  and  the  events  of  his  life  would  be  detected  and  de- 
ciphered, from  some,  if  not  from  all  his  works,  at  some  future 
time. 

The  book  itself  contains  about  385  pages  of  deciphered 
matter,  written  in  the  old  English  of  the  Elizabctlian  period, 
and  relating  to  men  and  things,  literary  and  historical,  then 
existing.  It  affords  the  most  ample  and  serious  materials  for 
what  may  be  called  "the  higher  criticism" ;  and  such  criticism 
is  very  cordially  invited,  for  reasons  more  important  than  any- 
thing concerning  my  own  abilities  or  personality.  The  most 
sceptical  will  admit  industry,  and  some  sort  of  ca]iability,  in 
producing  a  work  of  the  kind.  It  is  due  to  the  pu})lic  that  in 
a  presentation  of  this  kind  I  should  offer  a  prima-facie  case. 

The  (juestion  most  nearly  related  to  the  Bacon-Shakespeare 

63 


controversy,  from  a  literary  standpoint,  is:  Was  Bacon's  imag- 
ination, fancy  and  ability,  equal  to  the  production  of  such  poet- 
ic and  dramatic  literature  as  is  embraced  in  the  Shakespeare 
plays  and  other  works  named  ?  The  dicta  obtainable  from  mere 
comparisons  of  style  are  scarcely  final.  Individual  judgments, 
in  this  field,  are  far  from  conclusive  or  satisfactory.  There  is 
as  much  difference  in  style  between  the  laboured,  interminable 
sentences  of  Bacon's  philosophical  works  and  the  polished  sen- 
tences of  the  Essays  as  there  is  between  the  Essays  and  the 
epigrams  of  the  Plays. 

Bacon  has  been  somewhat  out  of  fashion  of  late.  His  phil- 
osophy, once  strong  and  new,  has  been  developed  into  the  daily 
practice  of  these  forceful  and  effective  times,  and  is  now  inter- 
esting principally  to  the  curious.  His  life, — reduced  by  Pope 
to  the  inconclusive  epigram,  "the  wisest,  brightest,  and  meanest 
of  mankind," — ending  in  his  disgrace,  does  not  now  attract  the 
average  reader,  while  the  compactness  of  the  Essays  deters  many 
from  a  second  reading.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to  refresh  our 
minds  concerning  the  man,  and  the  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  before  the  present-day  rush  for  new  things  had  become  so 
absorbing. 

Briefly,  the  well-considered  opinions  of  those  best  fitted 
to  judge  are,  that  his  abilities  were  transcendent  in  every  field. 
Lord  Macaulay  tells  us  that  Bacon's  mind  was  "the  most  ex- 
quisitely constructed  intellect  that  has  ever  been  bestowed  upon 
any  of  the  children  of  men" ;  Pope,  that  "Lord  Bacon  was  the 
greatest  genius  that  England,  or  perhaps  any  other  country, 
ever  produced" ;  Sir  Alexander  Grant,  that  "it  is  as  an  inspired 
seer,  the  prose-poet  of  modern  science,  that  I  reverence  Bacon"  ; 
Alexander  Smith,  that  "he  seems  to  have  written  his  Essays 
with  the  pen  of  Shakespeare."  Mackintosh  calls  his  literature 
"the  utmost  splendour  of  imagery."  Addison  says,  that  "he 
possessed  at  once  all  those  extraordinary  talents  which  were  di- 
vided among  the  greatest  authors  of  antiquity.  .  .  one  does  not 
know  which  to  admire  most  in  his  writings,  the  strength  of  rea- 
son, force  of  style,  or  brightness  of  imagination."  Mr.  Welch 
assures  us :  "Lord  Bacon  was  a  poet.  Llis  language  has  a  sweet 
and  majestic  rhythm  which  satisfies  the  sense,  no  less  than  the 
superhuman  wisdom  of  his  philosophy  satisfies  the  intellect." 
While  H.  A.  Taine,  a  Frenchman,  recognising  throughout  the 

54 


differences  of  language  the  force  of  the  poetic  thought,  gives 
us  this  in  his  English  Literature : — 

"In  this  band  of  scholars,  dreamers,  and  inquirers,  appears 
the  most  comprehensive,  sensible,  originative  of  the  minds 
of  the  age — Francis  Bacon,  a  great  and  luminous  intellect, 
one  of  the  finest  of  this  poetic  progeny.  .  .  .There  is  nothing 
in  English  prose  superior  to  his  diction. .  .  .  His  thought  is  in 
the  manner  of  artists  and  poets,  and  he  speaks  after  the  man- 
ner of  prophets  and  seers .  .  .  Shakespeare  and  the  seers  do  not 
contain  more  vigorous  or  expressive  condensations  of  thought, 
more  resembling  inspiration. .  .  .  His  process  is  that  of  the  crea- 
tors :  it  is  inspiration,  not  reasoning." 

Again,  Lord  Macaulay  tells  us:  "J^o  man  ever  had  an 
imagination  at  once  so  strong  and  so  thoroughly  subjugated. 
In  truth,  much  of  Bacon's  life  was  spent  in  a  visionary  world, 
amidst  things  as  strange  as  any  that  are  described  in  the  Ara- 
bian tales." — "A  man  so  rare  in  knowledge  of  so  many  several 
kinds,  endued  with  the  facility  and  felicity  of  expressing  it  all 
in  so  elegant,  significant,  so  abundant,  and  yet  so  choice  and 
ravishing  array  of  words,  of  metaphors  and  allusions,  as  per- 
haps the  world  has  not  seen  since  it  was  a  world,"  said  Sir  Tobie 
Mathew. 

The  German  Schlegel,  in  his  History  of  Literature,  calls 
liim  "this  mighty  genius,"  and  adds,  "Stimulated  by  his  ca- 
pacious and  stirring  intellect.  .  .intellectual  culture,  nay,  the 
social  organisation  of  modern  Europe  generally,  assumed  a  new 
shape  and  complexion."  While  again  from  Lord  Macaulay  we 
quote  this:  "With  great  minuteness  of  observation  he  had  an 
amplitude  of  comprehension  such  as  has  never  yet  been  vouch- 
safed to  any  human  being." 

In  the  Encyclopocdia  Britannica  we  read :  "The  thoughts 
arc  weighty,  and,  even  when  not  original,  have  acquired  a  pe- 
culiar and  unique  tone  or  cast  by  passing  through  the  crucible 
of  Bacon's  mind.  A  sentence  from  the  Essays  can  rarely  be 
mistaken  for  the  production  of  any  other  writer.  The  short, 
pithy  sayings. 

Jewels  five  words  long 
That  on  the  stretched  forefinger  of  all  Time 
Sparkle  for  ever, 

65 


have  become  popular  mottoes  and  household  words.  The  style 
is  quaint,  original,  abounding  in  allusions  and  witticisms,  and 
rich,  even  to  gorgeousness,  with  piled-up  analogies  and  meta- 
phors." 

In  the  presence  of  these  acknowledged  masters  in  literary 
judgment,  I  may  well  be  silent.  These  quotations  might  be 
extended  indefinitely.  Anything  I  could  add  of  my  own  would 
be  repetition.  In  the  face  of  these  well-considered  opinions,  the 
flippant  adverse  judgment  of  newspaper  critics,  in  the  Bacon- 
Shakespeare  controversy,  thrown  off  in  the  hurry  of  daily  is- 
sues, may  for  the  present  be  disregarded.  The  writers  of  such 
articles  have  never  read  Bacon  well,  if  at  all, — perhaps  not 
Shakespeare  thoroughly. 

My  work  in  the  past  eight  years  of  constant  study  of  the 
subject  has  led  me,  of  necessity,  through  every  line  and  word 
that  Bacon  wrote,  both  acknowledged  and  concealed,  so  far  as  the 
latter  has  been  developed.  The  work  I  have  done  upon  the 
word-cipher  in  reassembling  his  literature  from  the  mosaic  to 
its  original  form  has  given  me  a  critical  knowledge  at  least,  and 
a  basis  perhaps  possessed  by  few  for  forming,  to  the  extent  of 
my  abilities,  a  critical  judgment;  but  I  would  merely  add,  that 
he  was,  assuredly,  master  in  many  fields  of  which  even  they 
who  knew  him  best  were  unaware. 

Granting  him  these  literary  powers,  was  he  at  the  same 
time  a  cipher  writer  ?  and  did  he  particularly  aifect  this  bi-liter- 
al  method  of  cipher  writing? 

For  the  first  I  refer,  for  brevity's  sake,  to  the  article  on 
cryptograms  in  the  Encyclopoedia  Britannica ;  and  for  the 
second  to  the  original  Latin  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum.  (edi- 
tions of  1623  and  1624),  and  its  very  excellent  translation  by 
Messrs.  Spedding,  Ellis,  and  Heath,  where  the  bi-literal  cipher 
precisely  as  I  have  used  it  is  described  and  illustrated  by  Bacon 
in  full,  with  the  statement  that  he  invented  it  while  at  the  Court 
of  France.  This  was  between  his  sixteenth  and  eighteenth 
years.  His  first  reference  to  it  was  in  1605.  Its  first  publica- 
tion was  in  1623,  after  he  had  used  it  continuously  forty-four 
years,  confiding  to  it  his  wrongs  and  woes,  and  intending,  in 
thus  explaining  and  giving  the  key,  that  at  some  near  or  distant 
day  his  sorrows  and  his  claims  should  be  known  by  its  decipher- 
ment. 


56 


The  cipher,  described  by  Bacon  in  De  Augmentis  Scientiar- 
um,  is  simplicity  itself,  being  in  principle  mere  combinations 
and  alternations  of  any  two  nnlike  things,  and  in  practice  as 
used  by  him  consisting  of  alternations  of  letters  from  two  slight- 
ly different  founts  of  Italic  type,  arranged  in  groups  of  five. 
This  affords  thirty-two  possible  combinations,  being  eight  in 
excess  of  the  twenty-four  letters  of  the  alphabet  he  used.  The 
free  use  of  these  Italics  is  a  notable  feature  in  all  his  literature, 
and  has  been  the  cause  of  much  speculation.  Sometimes  the 
differences  between  the  letters  of  the  two  founts  are  bold  and 
marked,  often  delicate  and  very  difficult  for  the  novice  to  dis- 
tinguish, but  possible  of  determination  by  the  practised  eye.  The 
differences,  especially  in  the  capitals  used  in  the  1623  Folio  of 
the  Shakespeare  Plays,  are  apparent  to  the  dullest  vision,  and 
photographic  copies  of  it  are  in  nearly  every  public  and  many 
private  libraries,  and  so  accessible  to  all. 

In  making  up  his  alphabet  the  two  founts  are  called  by  him 
the  'a  fount'  and  the  'h  fount,'  and  the  several  groups  of  five, 
representing  each  letter  of  the  alphabet  he  used  in  the  cipher, 
are  as  follows :  aaaaa,  a ;  aaaab,  b ;  aaaba,  c ;  etc.,  etc. 

After  the  full  exposition  of  this  cipher  by  Mr.  Mallock,  a 
repetition  here  would  seem  superfluous,  and  I  will  only  take 
space  to  say  that  the  detailed  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  De 
Augmentis  Scientiarum  in  every  edition  of  Bacon's  complete 
works. 

One  of  the  interesting  incidents  of  the  use  of  this  bi-literal 
method  is,  that  it  did  not  at  all  require  taking  the  printer  into 
the  writer's  confidence.  A  peculiar  mark  under  the  letter  would 
indicate  the  fount  from  which  the  letter  was  to  be  taken.  The 
printer  may  have  thought  Bacon  insane,  or  what  not,  but  the 
marking  gave  him  no  clue  to  the  cipher. 

Perhaps  I  cannot  better  illustrate  the  scope  of  the  research- 
es that  have  brought  out  such  strange  and  unexpected  disclo- 
sures than  by  giving  the  bibliography  of  my  work.  This  will 
have  an  attraction  for  many,  who  will  sympathise  with  me  in 
the  pleas\ire  I  have  known  in  working  in  these  rare  and  costly 
old  books. 

The  deciphering  has  been  from  the  following  original  edi- 
tions in  my  possession: 

67 


The  Advancement  of  Learning 1605 

The  Shepheards'  Calender  1611 

The  Faerie   Queene    1613 

Novum    Organum    1620 

Parasceve    1620 

The  History  of  Henry  VH 1622 

Edward    Second     1622 

The  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  1628* 

The  New  Atlantis  1635* 

Sylva    Syl varum    1635* 

and  also  a  beautifully  bound  full  folio  facsimile  of  the  1623 
edition  of  the  Shakespeare  plays,  bearing  the  name  of  Coleridge 
on  the  title  page. 

In  the  Boston  Library  I  obtained: 

Richard    Second    1598 

David  and  Bethsabe   1599 

Midsummer    Night's    Dream 1600 

Much    Ado    About    Nothing 1600 

Sir  John  Oldcastle   1600 

Merchant  of  Venice   1600 

Richard,   Duke   of  York 1600 

Treasons   of   Essex    1601 

King  Lear    1608 

Henry   Fifth    1608 

Pericles     1609 

Hamlet     1611 

Titus   Andronicus    1611 

Richard    Second    1615 

Merry  Wives   of  Windsor 1619 

Whole  Contention  of  York,  etc 1619 

Pericles     1619 

Yorkshire   Tragedy    1619 

Romeo  and  Juliet (without  date) 


From  the  choice  library  of  John  Dane,  M.D.,  Boston: 

The  Treasons  of  Essex 1601 

Vitae  et  Mortis    1623 


From  the  library  of  Marshall  C.  Lefferts,  of  'New  York, 
I  had: 

Ben    Jonson's    Plays,    Folio 1616 

A   Quip   for  an  Upstart   Courtier 1620 


*  These  three  bear  dates  after  Bacon's  death,  and  were  undoubt- 
edly completed  by  Dr.  Rawley,  his  secretary,  whose  explanation 
regarding  them  is   found  on  pages  339-340  of  the   Bi-literal  'Cypher.     , 

58 


From  the  Lenox  Library,  ^ew  York: 

Midsummer   Night's   Dream 1600 

Sir  John   Oldcastle    1600 

London    Prodigal     1605 

Pericles    1619 

Yorkshire    Tragedy    1619 

The  Whole  Contention,  etc.   1619 

Shakespeare,   first  folio 1623 


and  from  Mrs.  Pott,  of  London,  England: 

Ben  Jonson's  Plays    1616 

De  Augmentis  Scientiarum   1624 

During  the  five  months  spent  at  the  British  Museum : 

The   Shepheards'   Calender    1579 

Araygnement  of  Paris    1584 

Mirrour  of  Modestie    1584 

Planetomachia    1585 

A  Treatise    of   Melancholy    1586 

A  Treatise  of  Mel.    (2nd.   Ed.) 1586 

Euphues     1587 

Morando     1587 

Perimedes     1588 

Spanish   Masquerado    1589 

Pandosto    1588 

Spanish   Masq.    (2nd   Ed.)    1589 

In  the  library  of  Sir  Edwin  Durning-Lawrence  I  was  able 
to  decipher,  from  the  Treatise  of  Melancholy,  some  pages  that 
were  missing  from  the  copy  at  the  British  Museum. 

I  wish  here  to  express  my  deep  obligation  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  British  Museum,  and  to  those  numerous  friends  I 
was  so  fortunate  as  to  make  while  in  London,  for  their  uniform 
kindness  to  me — a  stranger  among  them — and  for  the  facilities 
which  they,  to  the  extent  of  their  power,  never  failed  to  afford 
me  in  my  work. 

Every  Italic  letter  in  all  the  books  named  has  been  exam- 
ined, studied,  classified,  and  set  down  ^'in  groups  of  five"  and 
the  results  transcribed.  Each  book  deciphered  has  its  own  pe- 
culiarities and  forms  of  typo,  and  must  be  made  a  separate 
study. 

The  1^)2'}  Folio  has  the  largest  variety  of  letters  and  ir- 
i-cgiihiritics ;  hut  tlic  inost  difficult  work  was  Bacon's  History  of 

59 


Henry  the  Seventh,  the  mysteries  of  which  it  took  me  the  great- 
er part  of  three  months  of  ahnost  constant  study  to  master.  The 
reason  came  to  light  as  the  work  progressed,  and  will  appear 
from  the  reading  of  the  first  page  of  the  deciphered  matter, 
with  its  explanations  of  "sudden  shifts"  to  puzzle  would-be  de- 
cipherers. 

In  the  deciphering  of  the  different  works  mentioned,  sur- 
prise followed  surprise  as  the  hidden  messages  were  disclosed, 
and  disappointment  as  well  was  not  infrequently  encountered. 
Some  of  the  disclosures  are  of  a  nature  repugnant,  in  many  re- 
spects, to  my  very  soul,  as  they  were  to  all  my  preconceived 
convictions,  and  they  wovild  never  have  seen  the  light,  except 
as  a  correct  transcription  of  what  the  cipher  revealed.  As  a  de- 
cipherer I  had  no  choice,  and  I  am  in  no  way  responsible  for 
the  disclosures,  except  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  transcription. 

Bacon,  throughout  the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  makes  frequent 
mention  of  his  translations  of  Homer,  which  he  considered  one 
of  his  "great  works  and  worthy  of  preservation,"  and  which 
had  been  scattered  through  the  mosaic  of  his  other  writings. 
One  of  the  strongest  of  his  expressed  desires  was  that  it  should 
be  gathered  and  reconstructed  in  its  original  form. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  surprise  that  came  to  me  in  all  my 
work  relates  to  what  was  found  in  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy. 
Several  other  of  the  works  had  been  finished  before  this  book 
was  taken  up.  After  a  few  pages  had  been  deciphered,  relating 
to  points  in  Bacon's  history,  to  my  great  disappointment  the 
cipher  suddenly  changed  the  subject  of  its  disclosures  to  this : 

"As  hath  been  said,  much  of  th'  materiall  of  th'  Iliad  may 
be  found  here,  as  well  as  Homer  his  second  wondrous  storie, 
telling  of  Odysseus  his  worthy  adventures.  Th'  first  nam'd  is 
of  greater  worth,  beautie  and  interesse,  alone,  in  my  estimation, 
than  all  my  other  work  together,  for  it  is  th'  crowning  triumph 
of  Homer's  pen ;  and  he  outstrips  all  th'  others  in  th'  race,  as 
though  his  wits  had  beene  Atalanta's  heeles.  jSText  we  see  Vir- 
gin, and  close  behind  them,  striving  to  attainc  unto  th'  hights 
which  they  mounted,  do  I  presse  on  to  th'  lofty  goale.  In  th' 
plays  lately  publisht,  I  have  approacht  my  modell  closelie,  and 
yet  it  doth  ever  seem  beyond  my  attainment. 

"Here  are  the  diverse  bookes,  their  arguments  and  sundry 
examples  of  th'  lines,  in  our  bi-literal  cipher." 

60 


These  "arguments,"  or  outlines,  are  intended  as  a  frame- 
work about  which,  with  the  aid  of  the  keys  given,  the  fuller 
deciphering  from  the  printed  lines  is  to  take  form  through  the 
methods  of  the  Word-Cipher. 

The  presence  of  lines,  identical — or  nearly  so — with  those 
of  Homer,  have  been  noted  by  close  students  in  all  the  works 
now  named  as  belonging  to  Bacon,  and  it  has  needed  but  to 
bring  the  lines  together  from  their  scattered  positions,  transpose 
names  and  arrange  the  parts  in  proper  sequence,  to  form  the 
connected  narrative. 

I  can  best  illustrate  this — and  it  will  be  of  interest  to  those 
fond  of  the  classics — ^by  adding  a  few  of  the  lines  from  some 
of  my  unfinished  and  unpublished  work,  before  I  had  discovered 
the  bi-literal  cipher  in  the  typography  of  the  books  I  was 
using.  I  will  say  regarding  this  part  of  my  incomplete  work, 
that  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  material  for  the  first 
four  books  of  the  fuller  translation  of  the  Iliad  had  been  collect- 
ed and  arranged  in  sequence  by  the  word-cipher  before  the 
work  was  laid  aside,  four  years  ago,  on  account  of  the  discov- 
ery of  the  bi-literal,  the  development  of  which,  it  became  at 
once  apparent,  was  of  first  importance.  These  directions  re- 
garding it  occur  in  the  Bi-literal  Cypher : 

"Keepe  lines,  though  somewhat  be  added  to  Homer ;   in 

fact,  it  might  be  more  truly  Homeric  to  consider  it  a  poeme  of 

the  times,  rather  than  a  historic  of  true  events."    (p.    168.) 

"...      In  all  places,  be  heedfull  of  the  meaning,   but  do  not 

consider  the  order  of  the  words  in  the  sentences.     I  sliould  join 

my  examples  and  rules  together,  you  will  say.     So  I  will.     In 

the  'Faerie  Queene,'  booke  one,  canto  two,  second  and  third 

lines  of  the  seventh  stanzo,  thus  speaking  of  Aurora,  write: 

Wearie  of  aged  Tithones  saffron  bed, 

Had    spreade,    through    dewy    ayre    her    purple    robe. 

"Or   in   the   eleventh    canto,   booke   two,    five-and-thirtieth 

stanzo,   arrange  the   matter   thus,   to  relate  in   verse  the  great 

attacko  at  the  ships,  at  that  pointe  of  time  at  wliich  the  great 

Trojan  took  up  a  weighty  missile,  the  gods  giving  strength  to 

the  hero's  arme :  it  begins  in  tlie  sixth  verse: 

There   lay   thereby  an   huge  greate   stone,    which   stood 

Upon  one  end,  and  had  not  many  a  day 

Removed  beene — a  signe  of  sundrie  wayes — 

This  Hector  snatch'd  and   with  exceeding  sway."      (p.  169.) 

61 


Illustrative  of  the  argument,  the  incident  in  Book  I., 
where  the  priest  Chryses  'Svas  evilly  dismissed  by  Agamemnon," 
the  bi-literal  epitome  reads: 

"And  th'  Priest,  in  silence,  walk'd  along  th'  shore  of  the 
resounding  sea.  After  awhile  with  many  a  prayer  and  teare  th' 
old  man  cried  aloud  unto  Apollo,  and  his  voice  was  heard." 

In  the  fuller  translation  by  means  of  the  word-cipher,  the 
lines  collected  from  the  different  books  result  in  the  following 
rendering  of  the  passage: 

"The  wi-etched  man,  at  his  impei-ious  speech, 
Was  all  abashed,  and  there  he  sudden  stay'd, 
While  in  his  eyes  stood   tears  of  bitterness. 
The  resounding  of  the  sea  upon  the  shore 
Beats  with  an  echo  to  the  unseen  grief 
That  swells  with  silence  in  the  tortur'd  soul. 
Apart  upon  his  knees  that  aged  sire 
Pray'd  much  unto  Latona's  lordly  son: 

"Hear,  hear,  O  hear,  god  of  the  silver  bow ! 
Who'rt  wont  Chrysa  and  Cilia   to  protect. 
And  reignest  in  this  island  Tenedos, 
If  ever  I  did  honour  thee  aright. 
Thy  graceful  temple  aiding  to  adorn, 
Or  if,  moreover,  I  at  any  time 
Have  burn'd  to  thee  fat  thighs  of  bulls  and  goats. 
Do  one  thing  for  me  that  I  shall  entreat — 

0  Phoebus,  with  thy  shafts  avenge  these  tears." 

A  little  farther  on,  after  Achilles  had  "summon'd  a  coun- 
cill"  and  charged  Calchas  to  declare  the  cause  of  the  pestilence, 
Bacon's  lines — that  he  warns  the  decipherer  to  retain,  "though 
somewhat  be  added  to  Homer" — gives  the  altercation  thus : 

To  whom  Atrides  did  this  answer  frame: 
"Full  true  thou  speak'st  and  like  thyself,  yet,  though 
Thou  speakest  truth,  methinks  thou  speak'st  not  well. 
It  is  because  no  one  should  sway  but  he 
He's  angry  with  the  gods  that  any  man 
Goeth  before  him ;  he  would  be  above  the  clouds, 
His   fortune's  master  and  the  king  of  men. 
And  here  is  none,  methinks,  disposed  to  yield: 
For  though  the  gods  do  chance  him  to  appoint 
To  be  a  warriour  and  command  a  camp, 
Inserting   courage   in   his    noble   heart. 
Do  they  give  right  to  utter  insults  here?" 

There   interrupting  him,    noble   Achilles 
Answer'd  the  king  in  few  words:      "Ay  forsooth! 

1  should  be  thought  a  coward,  Agamemnon, 
A   man   of   no   estimation    in   the   world. 

If  what  you  will  I  humbly  yield  unto. 


And  when  you  say,  'Do  this,'  it  is  perform'd. 

I,  for  my  part — let  others  as  they  list, — 

I  will  not  thus  be  fac'd  and  overpeer'd. 

Do  not  think  so,  you  shall  not  find  it  so: 

Some  other  seek  that  may   with  patience  strive 

With   thee,   Atrides;    thou   shalt  rule  no   more 

O'er   me." 

The  transalation  by  George  Chapman,  Book  1.,  page  20, 
line  11,  reads: 

"All  this,  good  father,"  said  the  king,  "  is  comely  and  good  right; 

But  this  man  breaks  all  such  bounds;  he  affects,  past  all  men,  height; 

All  would  in  his  power  hold,  all  make  his  subjects,  give  to  all 

His  hot  will  for  their  temperate  law:  all  which  he  never  shall 

Persuade  at  my  hands;     If  the  gods  have  given  him  the  great  style 

Of  ablest  soldier,   made  they   that  his   license   to  revile 

Men  with  vile  language?"     Thetis'  son  prevented  him,  and  said: 

"Fearful  and  vile  I  might  be  thought,  if  the  exactions  laid 

By  all  means  on  me  I  should  bear.     Others  command  to  this, 

Thou  Shalt  not  me;   or  if  thou  dost,  far  my  free  spirit  is 

From    serving   thy   command." 

The  translation  by  William  Cullen  Bryant,  book   1,  page 
13,  line  22,  reads: 

To  him  the  sovereign  Agamemnon  said: 
"The  things  which  thou  hast  uttered,  aged  chief, 
Are  fitly  spoken;    but  this  man  would  stand 
Above  all  others;   he  aspires  to  be 
The  master,  over  all   to  domineer. 
And  to  direct  in  all  things;  yet,  I  think 
There  may  be  one  who  will  not  suffer  this, 
For  if  by  favor  of  the  immortal  gods, 
He  was  made  brave,  have  they  for  such  a  cause 
Given  him  the  liberty  of  insolent  speech?" 

Hereat  the  great  Achilles,  breaking  in. 

Answered:     "Yea,  well  might  I  deserve  the  name 

Of  coward  and  of  wretch,  should  I  submit 

In  all  things  to  do  thy  bidding.     Such  commands 

Lay  thou  on  others,  not  on  me;   nor  think 

I  shall  obey  thee  longer." 

The  translation  by  William  Sothol)y,  M.  R.  S.  L.,  book  1, 
page  16,  line  21,  runs  as  follows: 

"Wise  is  thy  counsel" — Atreus'  son  reply'd — 
"Well  thy  persuasive  voice  might  Grecia  guide. 
But  this — this  man  must  stretch  o'er  all  his  sway, 
All  must  observe  his  will,  his  beck  obey, 
All  hang  on  him — such,  such  o'erweening  pride. 
Rage  as  he  may,  by  me  shall    be  defy'd. 
The  gods,  who  to  his  arm  its  prowess  gave, 
Loose  they  his  scornful  tongue  at  will  to  rave?" 

63 


Him  interrupting,  fierce  Pelides  said: 
"Be  on  my  willing  brow  dishonor  laid, 
If  I — whate'er  ttiy   wish — whate'er  thy  will, 
Imperious  tyrant! — thy  command  fulfil. 
O'er  others  rule;    by  others  be  obeyed; 
No  more  Achilles  deigns  the  Atridae  aid." 


The  Earl  of  Derby's  translation,  book  1,  page  16,  line  12, 
reads : 

To  whom  the  monarch,  Agamemnon,  thus: 
"Oh,  father,  full  of  wisdom  are  thy  words; 

But  this  proud  chief  o'er  all  would  domineer; 

O'er  all  he  seeks  to  rule,  o'er  all  to  reign, 

To  all  dictate,  which  I  will  not  bear, 

Grant  that  the  gods  have  giv'n  him  warlike  might; 

Gave  they  unbridled  license  to  his  tongue?" 
'  To  whom  Achilles,  interrupting  thus: 

"Coward  and  slave  I  might  indeed  be  deemed. 

Could  I  submit  to  make  thy  word  my  law; 

To  others  thy  commands;   seek  not  to  me 

To  dicate,  for  I  follow  thee  no  more." 

It  is  true  that  the  presence  of  the  bi-literal  cipher  in  any 
work  does  not  prove  authorship,  being  merely  a  matter  of 
typography  which  can  be  incorporated  in  any  printed  page, 
as  it  was  in  fact  in  Ben  Jonson's  writings,  for  Bacon's  pur- 
poses. But  when  it  is  worked  out,  and  its  chief  purpose  is 
found  to  be  to  teach  the  word-cipher,  and  that  the  latter  pro- 
duces practicable  results  such  as  given  above,  the  confirmation 
of  both  ciphers  is  unmistakable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  word- 
cipher  is  a  complete  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  the  author 
of  the  interior  work  was  the  author  of  the  exterior. 

I  am  not  infrequently  asked,  and  it  is  a  very  natural  ques- 
tion, why  should  Bacon  put  translations  of  the  Iliad  and  Odys- 
sey in  his  works,  when  neither  required  secrecy  ?  I  quote  a 
sentence  from  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  (p.  341),  deciphered  from 
Natural  History : 

"Finding  that  one  important  story  within  manie  others 
produc'd  a  most  ordinarie  play,  poem,  history,  essay,  law-max- 
ime,  or  other  kind,  class,  or  description  of  work,  I  tried  th'  ex- 
periment of  placing  my  tra'slations  of  Homer  and  Virgil  within 
my  other  Cypher.  When  one  work  has  been  so  incorporated 
into  others,  these  are  then  in  like  manner  treated,  separated 
into  parts  and  widely  scatter'd  into  my  numerous  books." 

64 


In  this  connection  I  will  add  another  extract  from  Ad- 
vanceraent  of  Learning  (original  edition,  1605,  p.  52)  : 

'And  Cicero  himselfe,  being  broken  unto  it  by  great  ex- 
perience, delivereth  it  plainelj:  That  whatsoever  a  man  shall 
have  occasion  to  speake  of  (if  hee  will  take  the  paines),  he  may 
have  it  in  effect  premeditate,  and  handled  in  these.  So  that  when 
hee  commeth  to  a  particular,  he  shall  have  nothing  to  doe,  but 
to  put  too  ISTames,  and  times,  and  places ;  and  such  other  Cir- 
cumstances of  Individuals." 

In  other  words,  Bacon  first  constructed,  then  reconstructed 
from  the  first  writing,  such  portions  as  would  fit  the  "names 
and  times  and  places,  and  such  other  Circumstances  of  Individ- 
uals," about  which  he  wished  to  build  a  new  structure  of 
history,  drama,  or  essay.  The  first  literary  mosaic,  containing 
dangerous  matter,  as  well  as  much  that  was  not,  was  transposed 
— the  relative  position  of  its  component  parts  changed — to  form 
the  one  we  have  known.  The  decipherer's  work  is  to  restore 
the  fragments  to  their  original  form. 

As  intimated  at  the  beginning,  the  value  of  anything  I 
could  say  upon  the  Bacon-Shakespeare  controversy  resolves 
itself  into  a  question  of  fact — Have  I  found  a  cipher,  and  has 
it  been  corectly  applied  ? 

I  repeat,  the  question  is  out  of  the  realm  of  literary  com- 
parisons altogether.  Literary  probabilities  or  improbabilities 
have  no  longer  any  bearing,  and  their  discussion  has  become 
purely  agitations  of  the  air:  the  sole  question  is — What  are 
the  facts  ?  These  cannot  be  determined  by  slight  or  imperfect 
examinations,  preconceived  ideas,  abstract  contemplation,  or 
vigour  of  denunciation. 

During  a  somewhat  lengthy  literary  life,  I  have  come  to 
perceive  the  sharp  distinction  between  convictions  on  any 
subject  and  the  possession  of  knowledge.  I  know  it  is  no  light 
thing  to  say  to  those  who  love  the  literature  ascribed  to  Shake- 
speare, "You  have  worshiped  a  true  divinity  at  the  wrong 
shrine,"  and  the  iconoclast  should  come  with  knowledge  be- 
fore he  assails  a  faith. 

The  limits  of  this  article  will  not  permit  me  to  do  more  in 
the  way  of  illustration ;  but  I  beg  to  assure  the  English  public 
that  I  speak  from  knowledge  obtained  at  a  cost  of  time,  money, 

65 


and  injury  to  eye-sight  and  health  greater  than  I  should  care 
to  mention. 

I  am  satisfied  that  my  work  will  not  be  disregarded ;  but 
instead,  given  a  respectful,  kindly  and  intelligent  examination 
in  Great  Britain,  the  home  of  Shakespeare  and  Bacon. 

I  say  nothing  at  this  time  of  the  validity  of  all  the  claims 
Bacon  has  made ;  but  if  they  are  accepted  there  will  presently 
be  accorded  to  one  of  the  line  of  English  kings  the  royal  title 
of  ''the  greatest  literary  genius  of  all  time." 


66 


BOOK    REVIEWS 


BACON-SHAKESPEARE. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup  Throws  New  Light  Upon  the 
Mystifying  Question — The  Bi-Literal  Cipher. 

Detroit  Free  Press. 

It  is  always  difficult  to  make  headway  against  a  well-estab- 
lished tradition.  Hence  argument  going  to  prove  that  Shake- 
speare did  not  write  the  dramas  that  have  come  down  to  us  in 
his  name,  is  discredited  largely  because  we  have  so  long  ac- 
cepted his  authorship  as  a  matter  of  fact.  But  the  literature  of 
the  anti-Shakespeareans  is  increasing,  and  the  time  is  past  when 
a  contemptuous  ejaculation  or  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders  can  dis- 
pose of  the  evidence  they  have  so  carefully  and  patiently  con- 
structed. In  truth,  the  opponents  of  Shakespeare  have  been  met 
so  often  by  this  sort  of  rebuttal  that  they  are  becoming  stronger 
and  more  numerous  every  year. 

That  Shakespeare's  plays  were  not  written  by  the  William 
Shaksper  of  Stratford,  was  probably  first  suggested  by  the  dis- 
crepancy between  the  plays  and  what  we  know  of  the  man. 
That  Francis  Bacon,  the  great  scholar,  profound  thinker  and 
literary  genius  of  the  Elizabethan  era  might  be  their  author  was 
first  suggested  by  similarity  of  philosophy  and  sentiment,  and 
parallelisms  of  thought  and  expression. 

That  Bacon's  was  the  greatest  mind  of  his  age  is  incontro- 
vertible. Pope  calls  him  "the  greatest  genius  that  England,  or 
perhaps  any  other  country,  ever  produced."  Lord  Macaulay 
says :  "Bacon's  mind  was  the  most  exquisitely  constructed  in- 
tellect that  has  ever  been  bestowed  upon  any  of  the  children  of 
men;"  while  Edmund  Burke  is  even  more  eulogistic :  "Who  is 
there  that,  hearing  the  name  of  Bacon,  does  not  instantly  recog- 
nize everything;  of  genius,  the  most  profound;  of  literature, 
the  most  extensive ;  of  discovery,  the  most  penetrating ;  of  ob- 
servation of  human  life,  the  most  distinguishing  and  refined." 

If  we  can  accept  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup's  new  book, 
"The  Bi-Literal  Cipher  of  Francis  Bacon,"  as  a  genuine  dis- 
covery and  the  story  it  tells  for  what  it  purports  to  be — Bacon's 
own — the  Bacon-Shakespeare  controversy  is  forever  at  rest. 
There  can  be  no  further  doubt  that  Bacon  wrote  not  only  the 
plays  ascribed  to  Shakespeare,  but  also  the  works  appearing 

69 


under  the  names  of  Spenser  and  Peek,  Greene  and  Marlowe,  and 
Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.  Mrs.  Gallup's  discovery  of 
a  cipher  running  through  them  all  explains  the  remarkable  sim- 
ilarities that  have  perplexed  critics  by  demonstrating  beyond  a 
shadow  of  doubt — if  we  accept  it  at  all — that  Bacon's  genius 
originated  them  all. 

Some  inquiries  naturally  suggest  themselves.  The  first  and 
most  natural  question  is,  Was  Bacon  a  writer  of  ciphers  ?  The 
business  of  statesmanship  required  skill  in  ciphers  in  his  day, 
and  little  important  court  and  diplomatic  business  was  carried 
on  except  under  such  cover.  Bacon's  earliest  public  experience 
was  with  Sir  Amyas  Paulet  for  three  years  in  the  court  of 
France,  and  his  was  one  of  the  brightest  intellects  of  his  time. 

The  next  question  is.  Did  he  possess  the  cipher  here  used? 
This  must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative,  for  it  is  found  fully 
explained  and  its  uses  pointed  out  in  his  Latin  work,  '"De  Aug- 
mentis,"  the  original  of  which,  published  in  1624,  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  writer  for  examination.  It  is  found  also  trans- 
lated in  full  in  the  standard  Spedding,  Ellis  &  Heath  edition  of 
Bacon's  works,  found  in  every  library. 

A  third  question  is.  What  is  the  nature  and  method  of  the 
cipher?  We  cannot  do  better  than  quote  directly  from  Bacon's 
"Advancement  of  Learning,"  copied  from  this  volume: 

"For  by  this  art  a  way  is  opened  whereby  a  man  may  ex- 
press and  signify  the  intentions  of  his  mind  at  any  distance  of 
place,  by  objects  which  may  be  presented  to  the  eye  and  accom- 
modated to  the  ear,  provided  those  objects  be  capable  of  a  two- 
fold difference  only — as  by  bells,  by  trumpets,  by  lights  and 
torches,  by  the  reports  of  muskets,  and  any  instruments  of  a 
like  nature. 

"But  to  pursue  our  enterprise,  when  you  address  yourself 
to  write  resolve  your  inward  infolded  letter  into  this  Bi-liter- 
arie  alphabet,  '•'  *  *  together  with  this  you  must  have 
a  bi-formed  alphabet,  as  well  capital  letters  as  the  smaller  char- 
acters, in  a  double  form,  as  fits  every  man's  occasion." 

Bacon  calls  this  the  "omnia  per  omnia,"  the  all  in  all  cipher, 
and  speaks  of  it  as  an  invention  of  his  own  made  while  at  the 
Court  of  France,  when  he  was  but  16  or  18  years  of  age. 

This  cipher  and  its  obvious  adaptations,  it  is  stated,  is  the 
basis  of  nearly  every  alphabetical  cipher  code  in  present  gen- 
eral use — the  alternating  dot  and  dash  of  the  Morse  telegraph 
code,  the  long  and  short  exposure  of  light  in  the  heliographic 
telegraph  and  the  "wig-wag"  signals  of  flags  or  lights  in  the 
armies  and  navies  of  the  world. 


70 


As  used  by  Bacon,  two  slightly  differing  fonts  of  Italic 
type  were  employed,  one  font  representing  the  letter  a,  the  other 
the  letter  b.  These  were  alternated  in  groups  of  five  in  his  liter- 
ature, each  group  of  five  letters  representing  one  letter  of  the 
alphabet  in  the  secret  work.  The  full  alphabet  and  several  illus.- 
trations  of  the  working  of  the  cipher  in  the  original  works  are 
given;  in  fact,  every  possible  aid  to  the  student  and  investi- 
gator who  wishes  to  verify  for  himself  the  existence  of  the 
cipher  and  the  mode  of  its  deciphering  is  freely  offered  in  the 
introduction,  prefaces  and  fac-similes  in  Mrs.  Gallup's  work. 

Assuming  that  the  cipher  is  Bacon's  and  that  it  has  been 
accurately  transcribed,  the  story  told  the  world  in  it  is  beyond 
the  dreams  of  romance;  it  is  simply  astounding. 

The  cipher  story  asserts  that  Bacon  was  the  grandson  of 
Henry  VIII.,  the  son  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  rightful  heir  to 
the  throne  of  England.  That  while  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of 
London,  where  Lord  Leicester  was  also  confined,  Elizabeth, 
before  becoming  queen,  was  secretly  married  to  Leicester.  The 
issue  of  the  marriage  was  two  sons,  the  so-called  Francis  Bacon 
— whose  life  was,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt,  preserved 
through  the  womanly  pity  and  compassion  of  Mistress  Anne 
Bacon — and  Robert  Devereaux,  afterward  Earl  of  Essex.  The 
political  exigencies  of  the  time  did  not  admit  the  public 
acknowledgment  of  the  marriage.  Francis  was  raised  as  the 
son  of  Nicholas  and  Anne  Bacon,  and  Elizabeth  crowned  as  the 
Virgin  Queen.  It  pleased  her  to  continue  the  deceit  and  Francis 
remained  ignorant  of  his  descent  until  about  sixteen  years  of 
age,  when  Elizabeth,  in  one  of  her  historic  rages,  revealed  the 
truth  to  him  and  banished  him  to  France. 

Thenceforward  Bacon's  life  was  one  long  disappointed 
hope,  which  found  expression  in  the  secrecy  of  the  cipher.  This 
he  interwove  in  every  original  edition  of  his  works,  hoping, 
and  intending,  that  in  the  long  future  the  cipher  would  be  read, 
and  he  be  justified  in  the  opinion  of  mankind.  If  his  cipher 
was  discovered  too  soon,  his  life  would  pay  the  forfeit,  if  never, 
his  labor  would  be  in  vain.  In  1623,  when  62  years  of  age 
and  near  his  death,  he  published  the  key  to  the  cipher  in  "De 
Augmentis"  in  the  hope  that  it  would  lead  to  the  unraveling. 
If  this  volume  is  correct,  it  took  300  years  of  time  and  a  bright 
American  woman  to  separate  the  web  and  woof. 

If  this  story  seems  incredible,  the  literary  claim  is  still  more 
so.  The  literary  and  philosophical  works  of  Bacon  are  suf- 
ficiently wonderful,  without  more.  y\ll  reviewers  and  biogra- 
phers regard  him  as  possessing  one  of  the  most  wonderful  in- 


71 


tellects  in  the  world's  history.  These  opinions  were  based 
upon  his  known  works.  We  are  now  asked  to  believe  that  not 
only  these,  but  the  works  ascribed  to  Shakespeare,  Spenser, 
Marlowe,  Greene,  Peele,  Burton,  and  part  of  Ben  Jonson's  were 
written  by  him,  and  that  in  each  and  every  one  of  them  this  bi- 
literal  cipher  was  placed,  to  the  end  that  his  rights  and  claims, 
wrongs  and  sufferings  could  become  known,  at  some  time,  to 
the  world. 

Not  the  least  of  these  marvels  is  that  the  "Anatomy  of  Mel- 
ancholy" of  Robert  Burton  is  found  to  have  been  published 
under  the  name  of  T.  Bright,  when  Burton  was  lo  years  of  age. 
A  later  edition  is  now  found  to  contain,  in  the  bi-literal  cipher, 
the  Argument  of  the  Iliad,  with  portions  freely  translated  into 
blank  verse,  differing  in  form  from  any  translation  heretofore 
made  and  remarkable  for  elegance  of  style  and  diction.  Take 
for  example  a  passage  describing  the  outbreak  between  the 
Greeks  and  Trojans,  incited  by  Minerva  by  the  order  of  Jove, 
at  the  solicitation  of  Juno : 

"As  in  the  ocean  wide, 
A  driving  wind  from  the  northwest  comes  forth 
With  force  resistless,  and  the  swelling  waves 
Succeed  so  fast  that  scarce  an  eye  may  see 
Where  one  in  pain  doth  bring  another  forth, 
Till,  on  the  rockie  shore  resounding  loud 
They  spit  forth  foam  white  as  the  mountain  snows, 
And  break  themselves  upon  the  o'er-jutting  rocks — 
Thus  mightily,  the  Grecian  phalanxes 
Incessantly  mov'd  onward  to  th'  battaile. 
It  might  not  then  be  said  that  anie  man 
Possessed  power  of  human  speech  or  thought, 
So  silentlie  did  they  their  leaders  follow 
In  reverentiall  awe.    Each  chief  commanded 
The  troops  that  came  with  him — each  led  his  owne — 
Glitt'ring  in  arms,  bright  shining  as  the  sunne, 
While  in  well  ordered  phalanxes  they  mov'd. 

"The  Trojan  hosts  were  like  unto  a  flock 
Close  in  a  penne  folded  at  fall  of  night, 
That  bleating  looked  th'  waye  their  young  ones  went 
And  filled  th'  avre  with  dire  confusion — 
Such  was  the  noyse  among  the  Trojan  hosts. 
No  two  gave  utterance  to  the  same  crye, 
So  various  were  the  nations  and  the  countries 
From  whence  they  came.     *     *     * 

"Like  wintry  mountain  torrent  roaring  loud 
That  frightes  th'  shepheard  in  th'  deepe  ravine 
Mixing  the  floods  tumultuously  that  poure 
From  forth  an  hundred  gushing  springs  at  once, 
Thus  did  the  deaf'ning  battaile  din  arise, 
When  meeting  in  one  place  with  direful  force 
In  tumult  and  alarums  th'   armies  joyned. 
Then  might  of  warriour  met  an  equall  might ; 

72 


Shields  clasht  on  shields,  the  brazen  spear  on  spear 
While  dying  groans  mixt  with  the  battaile  cry- 
In  awesome  sound ;  and  steedes  were  fetlock  deepe 
In  blood,  fast  flowing  as  the  armies  met." 

Still  another  chapter  in  the  romance  of  Bacon's  life  is  dis- 
closed in  the  cipher.  Because  of  a  late  and  somewhat  mercen- 
ary marriage,  he  has  been  considered  as  having  a  cold  nature, 
a  conclusion  hightened  by  the  loveless  comments  of  his  Essay 
on  Love.  But  the  cipher  writing  discloses  an  early  disappoint- 
ment as  the  cause.  While  in  France,  and  17,  he  was  violently 
enamored  of  the  beautiful  but  dissolute  Marguerite,  wife  of 
Henry  of  Navarre,  and  his  senior  by  something  like  eight  years. 
A  divorce  from  Henry  and  her  union  with  Bacon,  the  rightful 
Prince  of  Wales,  was  actually  planned.  The  fair  Marguerite 
proved  fickle  also,  but  his  WTitings  are  filled  with  references  to 
his  affection  for  her  which  her  falseness  could  not,  apparently, 
extinguish.  He  tells  us  himself  that  "Romeo  and  Juliet"  was 
written  to  picture  their  love,  saying:  "The  joy  of  life  ebb'd 
from  our  hearts  with  our  parting,  and  it  never  came  againe  into 
this  bosom  in  full  flood-tide."  Another  interesting  episode 
brought  out  is  Bacon's  account  of  his  brother's  treason  and  his 
self-justification  and  remorse  at  his  own  part  in  the  punishment 
that  was  meted  out  to  him. 

The  verity  of  the  cipher  Mrs.  Gallup  has  so  painstakingly 
and  with  such  unwearied  patience  unfolded  would  seem  to  be 
sustained  by  the  fact  that  it  is  Bacon's  own  invention,  fully — 
even  elaborately — set  forth  in  one  of  his  later  writings,  when, 
Elizabeth  being  dead  and  he  himself  near  his  end,  he  had  less 
fear  of  consequences  should  his  secret  be  discovered — indeed, 
he  came  to  fear  it  would  not  be  discovered  and  that  he  would 
not  be  justified  to  posterity. 

So  much  of  reserve  as  is  due  to  lack  of  personal  demonstra- 
tion is  maintained  by  the  writer,  but  here  are  360  pages  of 
deciphered  matter,  with  sufficient  means  of  proof  to  satisfy  any 
investigator.  There  can  be  no  middle  ground ;  one  must  accept 
or  deny  it  in  toto.  Either  the  decipherer  has  made  a  most 
remarkable  discovery  to  which  the  key  has  been  open  for  three 
centuries,  or  the  book  is  equally  remarkable  from  an  entirely 
different  point  of  view,  li  accepted,  truly  "th'  tardy  epistle 
shall  turn  over  an  unknowne  leaf  of  the  historic  of  our  land." 


73 


FRANCIS  BACON'S  BI-LITERAL  CIPHER. 
Baconiana,  London. 

Before  these  lines  are  printed,  Mrs.  Gallup's  very  important 
work  on  "The  BiHteral  Cipher  of  F'rancis  Bacon"*  will  have 
been  for  two  months  in  the  hands  of  the  public.  Since  it  is 
probable  that  there  may  be  due  discussion  of  its  wonderful  con- 
tents, it  seems  desirable  to  say  a  few  words,  not  by  way  of 
review  or  mere  expression  of  personal  opinion  (in  such  a  case 
valueless),  but  in  order  to  draw  attention  to  certain  points 
which,  if  not  at  present  capable  of  absolute  verification  or  con- 
tradiction, yet  surely  demand  and  are  worthy  of  the  closest 
investigation.  Questions  of  this  kind  must  naturally  arise, 
"Is  this  cipher  such  as  any  person  of  ordinary  intelligence  can 
follow  ?  Is  it  provably  correct  ?  Has  any  one  besides  Mrs. 
Gallup  succeeded  in  decpihering  by  the  same  means,  and  with 
similar  results?" 

These  questions  may  without  hesitation  be  answered  in  the 
affirmative.  With  the  explanation  given  by  the  great  inventor 
himself,  anyone  can  master  the  method  described  in  the  De 
Auginenfis  (Book  VI.).  Ordinary  patience  and  contrivance 
enable  us  to  arrange  two  different  alphabets  of  Italic  letters  and 
to  insert  these  in  the  printed  type,  forming  cipher  sentences 
one-fifth  in  length  of  the  "exterior"  sentence  or  passage.  Thus 
to  bury  one  story  within  another  is  easy  enough.  To  unearth 
it  is  another  matter,  and  more  difficult. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  nothing  which  particularly  invites 
the  decipherer  to  discriminate  between  the  two  forms  of  Italic 
letters  which  are  essential  to  this  typographical  cipher;  or,  if 
differences  or  deformities  in  letters  are  observed,  we  have  been 
required  to  believe  them  "errors,"  defects  in  printing,  careless- 
ness of  the  compositor,  or  anything  else  which  may  explain 
them  away.  Be  not  deceived ;  there  is  no  error,  but  consum- 
mate skill  and  subtle  contrivance,  all  helping  towards  the  cryp- 
tographer's great  ends. 


*Pub. :   Gay  and   Bird,   London.     The   Howard    Publishing   Company, 
Detroit. 

74 


Before  beginning  the  work  of  deciphering,  it  is  needful 
thoroughly  to  learn  by  heart  the  Biliteral  Alphabet  given  by  its 
Inventor  in  the  De  Augmentis.  Here  we  see  that  the  letters  of 
the  common  Alphabet  are  formed  by  the  combination  of  the 
letters  A  and  B  in  five  places,  these  two  letters  (A  and  B)  being 
represented  by  two  distinct  ''founts''  of  Italic  type.  To  dis- 
criminate between  these  two  founts,  is  the  initial  difiiculty ;  but 
observing  that,  in  the  Biliteral  Alphabet,  A's  preponderate,  and 
that  no  combination  begins  with  two  B's,  we  judge  that  the 
most  frequent  forms  of  Italic  letters  are  almost  certain  to  be 
A's.  A  decision  is  best  arrived  at  by  repeatedly  tracing  and 
drawing  out  the  various  letters ;  and  the  decipherer  must  have 
keen  eyes  and  powers  of  observation  to  detect  the  minute  dif- 
ferences. For  our  Francis  would  not  make  things  too  easy. 
He  speaks  of  "marks"  and  "signs"  to  be  heeded,  and  Roman 
letters  are  often  interspersed.  It  is  also  patent  (and  was  found 
by  Mrs.  Gallup,  and  independently  by  others)  that,  in  every 
biliteral  alphabet,  letters  are  here  and  there  intentionally  ex- 
changed, as  a  device  to  confuse  and  confound  the  would-be 
decipherer. 

In  many  cases  we  find  alphabets  suddenly  reversed — A 
becoming  B,  and  B,  A,  a  change  hinted  by  some  "mark'  or 
"sign,"  as  a  tiny  dot.  These  changes  seem  to  occur  most  fre- 
quently in  very  small  books,  where  the  limited  space  makes  it 
the  more  needful  to  set  snares  and  stumbling-blocks  at  every 
turn.  Such  things  show  that,  besides  the  good  eyes  and  keen 
wits  required  for  successful  deciphering,  there  must  be  no  small 
amount  of  that  "eternal  patience"  which  Michael  Angelo  hon- 
ored with  the  title  of  "genius." 

Let  us  contemplate  the  goodly  volume  presented  to  us  by 
Mrs.  Gallup,  and  try  to  realize  the  fact  that  every  one  of  those 
350  pages  of  deciphered  matter  was  worked  out  letter  by  letter; 
that  each  ONE  letter  in  this  deciphered  work  represents  FIVE 
letters  extracted  from  the  deciphered  book — say,  Shakespeare, 
orSpenser,  Burton,  or  any  of  the  eight  groups  of  works  indi- 
cated in  the  cipher.  Not  only  should  such  reflections  cause  us 
highly  to  respect  the  "endless  patience,"  perseverance,  and  skill 
of  the  cryptographer  to  whose  labors  we  are  so  deeply  indebted, 
but  they  should  warn  us  from  depreciating  or  discrediting  state- 
ments or  methods  which  we  ourselves  are  incapable  of  testing. 
"Disparage  not  the  faith  thou  dost  not  know,"  is  a  good,  sound 
principle  to  begin  upon,  and  Francis  ("cunyng  in  the  humours 
of  persons")  had  evidently  observed  the  tendency  of  the  human 
mind  to  fly.  from  things  troublesome,  or  to  take  refuge  in  dis- 

75 


paragement  and  ridicule.  His  notes  teem  with  reflections  on 
this  matter.  "Things  above  us  are  nothing  to  us" — "just  noth- 
ing." "Many  things  are  thought  impossible  until  they  are  dis- 
covered, then  men  wonder  that  they  had  not  been  seen  long 
before."  On  the  other  hand,  he  continually  encourages  him- 
self with  thoughts,  texts  and  proverbial  philosophy,  which  we 
find  him  instilling  into  his  disciples.  "Everything  is  subtile 
till  it  is  conceived."  "By  trying,  men  gained  Troy,"  and  so 
forth.  But  we  must  "woorke  as  God  woorkes,"  wisely,  quietly, 
with  persistent  patience  and  unremitting  care,  and  "from  a 
good  beginning  cometh  a  good  ending." 

So  much,  then,  for  the  "biliteral"  itself.  Another  crop  of 
inquiries  springs  up  when  we  attempt  briefly  to  rehearse  the 
wonderful  revelations  now  before  us,  and  which  it  is  within  our 
power  to  examine  and  essay  to  prove. 

Elizabeth,  when  princess,  and  prisoner  in  the  hands  of 
Mary,  secretly  married  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester.  Of 
this  secret  marriage  two  sons  were  born.  Francis  the  elder 
would  have  been  "put  away  privilie"  by  the  wicked  woman 
whom  he  never  could  bring  himself  to  think  of  as  "mother." 
Lady  Anne  Bacon,  however,  saved  his  life,  and  under  an  oath 
of  secrecy  adopted  him  as  her  own  son.  The  scene  when  these 
facts  came  to  his  knowledge,  and  again  when  they  were  tear- 
fully confirmed  by  his  "deare,"  "sweete  mother,"  Lady  Anne, 
are  graphically  described  in  the  cipher  narrative  extracted  from 
the  ''History  of  Henry  VH."  (Ed.  1622).  Further  details  of 
the  same  extraordinary  episode  are,  as  may  be  remembered, 
introduced  in  the  "word  cipher,"  discovered,  and  in  part  pub- 
lished, by  Dr.  Owen,  some  seven  years  ago.  From  the  dis- 
closures made  in  the  books  deciphered,  "it  is  evident,"  says 
Mrs.  Gallup,  "that  Bacon  expected  the  biliteral  cipher  to  be 
the  first  discovered,  and  that  it  would  lead  to  the  finding  of  his 
principal  or  word  cipher  which  it  fully  explains,  and  to  which 
is  intrusted  the  larger  subjects  he  desired  to  have  preserved. 
This  order  has  been  reversed,  in  fact,  and  the  earlier  discovery 
by  Dr.  Owen  becomes  a  more  remarkable  achievement,  being 
entirely  evolved  without  the  aids  which  Bacon  had  prepared  in 
this  for  its  elucidation." 

But  to  return  to  our  story. 

Francis  was  now  sent  abroad  by  Elizabeth's  orders  {not,  as 
has  been  declared  by  his  biographers,  because  Sir  Nicholas 
Bacon  wished  him  to  see  the  wonders  of  the  world  abroad,  but) 
in  order  to  get  him  out  of  the  way  at  tHe  time  when  he  had  been 
the  unwitting  cause  of  a  Court  scandal.     He  left  England  in 


76 


v/ 


the  suite  of  Sir  Amyas  Patilet,  the  English  Ambassador.  We 
know  a  little,  and  surmise  more,  concerning  his  travels,  and  the 
places  which  he  visited,  or  where  he  stayed  studying  and  writ- 
ing. The  sad  story  of  his  ill-fated  love  for  "My  Marguerite" 
is  briefly  touched  upon,  rather  as  a  thing  understood  to  the 
reader  than  as  a  record,  and  of  this  more  will  be  related  in  a 
future  volume.  The  present  extracts  are  from  the  undated  4to. 
of  Romeo  and  Juliet,  where  we  may  read : 

"This  stage-play,  in  part,  will  tell  our  real  love-tale.  A 
part  is  in  the  Play  previously  nam'd  or  mention'd  as  having 
therein  one  pretty  scene  acted  by  the  two.  So  rare  and  most 
briefe  the  hard-won  happinesse,  it  affords  us  great  content  to 
re-live  in  the  Play  all  that  as  mist,  in  summer  morning  did  roule 
away.  It  hath  place  in  the  dramas  containing  a  scene  and 
theame  of  this  nature,  since  our  fond  love  interpreted  th'  harts 
o'  others,  and  in  this  joy,  th'  joy  of  heaven  was  faintlie 
guessed." 

In  the  closing  lines  of  King  John  are  these  instructions  : 

"Join  Romeo  with  Troy's  famous  Cressida  if  you  wish  to 

know  my  story.     Cressida  in  this  play  with  Juliet  b ," 

which,  says  the  Editor,*  "ends  the  cipher  in  King  John  with  an 
incomplete  word.  Turning  to  Romeo  mid  Juliet  (p.  53),  the 
remainder  of  the  word  and  of  the  broken  sentence  is  continued, 
being  a  part  of  the  description  of  Marguerite,  and  the  love 
Francis  entertained  for  her." 

This  love  never  faded  from  his  heart,  although  before  he 
married,  at  the  age  of  47,  he  had,  he  says,  hung  up,  as  it  were, 
the  picture  of  his  love  on  the  walls  of  memory.  We  remember 
the  calm  and  uneffusive  fashion  in  which  he  then  imparted  to 
his  friends  the  news  that  he  had  found  "a  handsome  maiden 
who  pleased  him  well."  The  tones  in  which  he  bewailed  his 
lost  love  are  pitched  in  a  different  key. 

"It  is  sometimes  said,  no  man  can  be  ivise  and  love,  and  yet 
it  would  be  well  to  observe  many  will  be  wiser  after  a  lesson 
such  as  wee  long  ago  conn'd.  There  was  noe  ease  to  our 
sufferi'g  heart  til  our  yeares  of  life  were  eight  lustres. f  The 
faire  face  liveth  ever  in  dreames,  but  in  inner  pleasances  only 
doth  th'  sunnie  vision  come.  This  will  make  clearlie  scene 
why  i'  the  part  a  man  doth  play  heerein  and  where-ere  man's 
love  is  evident,  strength  hath  remained  unto  the  end — the 
want'n  Paris  recov'ring  by  his  latter  venture  much  previouslie 
lost." 


♦"Introduction,"  p.  11. 

file  speaks  in  the  third  person — as  a  royal  personage. 


77 


A  second  son  was  born  to  Elizabeth,  and  named  Robert, 
after  his  father,  the  Earl  of  Leicester.  Robert  was  "made 
ward"  of  Walter  Devereaux,  Earl  of  Essex,  who  "died"  con- 
veniently and  unexpectedly,  when  Robert  was  old  enough  to 
succeed  to  his  title  and  estates.  At  what  period  the  brothers 
became  aware  of  their  kinship  has  not  yet  been  told  in  the  cipher. 
Francis  describes  the  personal  beauty,  gallantry,  and  boldness 
of  his  brother,  and  says  that  for  these  qualities  Robert  was  a 
great  favorite  with  the  Queen,  who  thought  that  he  resembled 
herself.  The  tale  is  still  incomplete;  but  enough  has  already 
been  disclosed  to  give  us  a  firm  sketch  of  the  miserable  outline. 
We  see  Robert  taking  advantage  of  the  Queen's  doting  fond- 
ness for  him,  and  Francis  endeavoring  to  keep  his  ambition 
within  bounds,  and  to  smooth  matters  with  his  irascible  mother 
when,  as  was  often  the  case,  she  became  irritated  beyond  endur- 
ance by  his  arrogant  audacity.  The  aim  of  Essex  was,  not  only 
in  the  future  to  supplant  his  elder  brother,  but  even  in  the 
Queen's  lifetime  to  seize  the  crown,  and  rule  as  king.  It  is  a 
dark  and  painful  page  in  history,  and  the  more  we  read  the  less 
we  marvel  at  the  efforts  made  by  Elizabeth  to  destroy  or  garble 
the  records  of  her  own  private  life,  and  of  the  times  in  which 
she  lived.  Having  spoilt  and  indulged  Essex  so  long  as  she 
believed  him  devoted  to  herself,  she  turned  upon  him  "in  a  tiger- 
like spirit"  when  his  treachery  became  patent,  and  because 
Francis  had  spoken  strongly  on  his  brother's  behalf,  and  had 
endeavored  to  shield  him  from  the  wrath  of  the  Queen,  she 
punished  him  by  forcing  him,  under  pain  of  death,  to  conduct 
the  case  (in  his  official  capacity)  against  Essex,  whom  she  had 
foredoomed  to  execution.  An  allusion  is  made  to  the  ring 
which  the  Queen  expected  Essex  to  send  her,  but  which  miscar- 
ried. This  story  has  been  held  doubtful,  but  it  seems  as  though 
we  may  find  it  true. 

The  sentence  passed  upon  Essex  was  just ;  but  the  horror  of 
the  trial  and  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  execution, 
haunted  Francis  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  his  tender  and  sensitive 
nature,  and  his  highly  strung  imagination  continually  reviving, 
whilst  they  shrank  from,  the  recollection  of  the  horrible  details 
of  which  hereafter  we  shall  have  to  read.  Although  Francis 
speaks  in  affectionate  terms  of  his  "deere"  and  cruelly  used 
brother,  we  cannot  but  think  that  the  tenderness  grew  out  of  a 
deep  pity;  for  Robert  had  long  ago  proved  himself  a  most 
selfish  and  unsatisfactory  person,  and  a  perpetual  thorn  in  his 
brother's  side,  but,  however  this  may  have  been,  the  gruesome 
tragedy  remained  imprinted  on  his  soul,  and  clouded  and  embit- 

78 


tered  his  whole  hfe.  "His  references  to  the  trial  and  execution 
of  Essex,  and  the  part  he  was  forced  to  take  in  his  prosecution, 
are  the  subject  of  a  wail  of  unhappiness  and  ever-present 
remorse,  with  hopes  and  prayers  that  the  truth  hidden  in  this 
cipher  may  be  found  out,  and  published  to  the  world  in  his 
justification. 

"O  God!  forgiveness  cometh  from  Thee;  shut  not  this 
truest  book,  my  God !  Shut  out  my  past — love's  little  sunny 
hour — if  it  soe  please  Thee,  and  some  of  man's  worthy  work; 
yet  Essex's  tragedy  here  shew  forth ;  then  posterity  shall  know 
him  truly."* 

The  Queen  commanded  Francis  to  write  for  publication  an 
account  of  the  Earl  of  Essex's  treasons,  and  he  did  so.  But 
the  report  was  too  lenient,  too  tender  for  the  reputation  of  the 
Earl  to  satisfy  his  vindictive  mother.  She  destroyed  the  docu- 
ment and  with  her  own  hand  wrote  another  which  was  pub- 
lished under  his  name,  and  for  which  he  has  been  held  responsi- 
ble. Such  matters  as  these  were  State  secrets,  and  we  cannot 
wonder  that  Elizabeth  should  have  taken  care  by  all  means  in 
her  power  to  prevent  them  from  becoming  public  property  by 
appearing  in  print.  We  may  well  believe  that,  as  the  cipher 
tells  us,  all  papers  were  destroyed  which  were  likely  to  bring 
dark  things  to  light.  Nevertheless  much  must  have  gradually 
leaked  out  through  the  actors  themselves,  and  more  must  have 
been  suspected,  and  only  through  dread  of  the  consequences 
withheld  from  general  discussion.  "See  what  a  ready  tongue 
suspicion  hath"  ;  in  private  letters  and  hidden  records  the  value 
of  which  is  perhaps  now  for  the  first  time  fully  understood, 
evidence  is  forthcoming  to  substantiate  statements  made  in  the 
deciphered  pages  of  Mrs.  Gallup,  and  her  forerunner.  Dr.  Owen. 

The  matter  gathered  from  the  deciphered  pages  is  not  lim- 
ited to  personal  or  political  history.  For  instance,  speaking  of 
the  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy  (edition,  1628),  the  Editor 
says : — "The  extraordinary  part  is  that  this  edition  conceals,  in 
cipher,  a  very  full  and  extended  prose  summary — argument, 
Bacon  calls  it — of  a  translation  of  Homer's  Iliad.  In  order 
that  there  may  be  no  mistake  as  to  its  being  Bacon's  works,  he 
precedes  the  translation  with  a  brief  reference  to  his  royal  birth, 

and  the  wrongs  he  has  suffered In  the  De  Aiig- 

inentis  is  found  a  similar  extended  synopsis  of  a  translation  of 
the  Odyssey.  This,  too,  is  introduced  with  a  reference  to 
Bacon's  personal  history,  and  although  the  text  of  the  book  is 
in  Latin,  the  cipher  is  in  English. 

♦Introduction,  p.  8.     It  seems  probable  tbat  this  was  written  soon  after 

the  events  in  1601. 

79 


The  decipherer  is  not  a  Greek  scholar,  and  would  be  incapa- 
ble of  creating  these  extended  arguments,  which  differ  widely 
in  phrasing  from  any  translation  extant,  and  are  written  in  a 
free  and  flowing  style."* 

Readers  must  not  expect  to  find  in  this  book  which  we  are 
noticing,  a  complete  and  shapely  narrative  explaining  every- 
thing, and  pouring  out  before  us  the  true  story  of  our  wonder- 
ful "concealed  man"  from  beginning  to  end.  The  cipher  utter- 
ances are,  for  the  most  part,  nothing  if  not  fragmentary.  The 
writer  himself  says  so,  and  adds  that  his  objects  in  thus  trust- 
ing his  secrets  to  the  care  of  his  friends  and  to  the  judgment  of 
time  were,  First,  that  he  might  hand  down  to  the  future  age 
the  only  faithful  account  of  himself  and  his  history,  which 
would  ever  be  allowed  to  reach  them.  Secondly,  he  proposed 
to  link  his  unacknowledged  works  one  with  another  in  such  a 
way  that  hereafter  his  sons  of  science  should  from  the  hints 
given  in  one  work  be  led  on  to  another,  and  so  to  another,  until 
the  vast  mass  of  books.  Historical,  Scientific,  Poetical,  Dramat- 
ical, Philosophical,  which  he  wrote,  should  be  connected,  welded 
together  like  an  endless  chain,  and  the  true  history  of  the  Great 
Restauration  and  of  the  English  Renaissance  fully  revealed. 

^Introduction,  p.  13. 


80 


THE  BACO^^Ai^  CIPHEK*— I. 

By  Fleming  Fulchek. 

The  Coukt  Journal,   London. 

Dr.  Rawley,  "his  Lordship's  first  and  last  chaplain,"  relates 
in  his  Life  of  Lord  Bacon  that  "when  his  History  of  King 
Henry  the  Seventh  was  to  come  forth,  it  was  delivered  to  the 
old  Lord  Brooke  to  be  perused  by  him,  who,  when  he  had 
dispatched  it,  returned  it  to  the  author  with  this  eulogy:  'bid 
him  take  care  to  get  good  paper  and  inke;  for  the  work  is 
incomparable.' "  We  think  "the  old  Lord  Brooke"  would 
have  been  justified  in  sending  this  message  (with  a  change 
of  pronoun)  to  the  authoress  of  The  Biliteral  Cipher  of  Sir 
Francis  Bacon  (for  in  its  own  way  it  is  incomparable),  and 
we  think  he  would  have  been  satisfied  with  the  result. 

The  book  is  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  containing 
introductory  chapters,  portraits,  and  facsimiles,  while  the 
second,  rather  more  than  three-quarters  of  the  book,  consists 
entirely  of  the  story  deciphered.  The  introductory  chapters 
are  short,  pithy,  and  well-written,  and  are  full  of  literary 
interest.  The  first  chapter,  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Gallup  herself, 
tells  how  she  came  to  discover  the  existence  of  the  cipher  in 
certain  books,  and  gives  a  brief  account  of  her  work,  a  work, 
to  quote  her  own  words,  "arduous,  exhausting  and  prolonged" ; 
and  shows  how,  though  her  discovery  "may  change  the  names 
of  some  of  our  idols,"  we  are  gainers,  not  losers,  by  the  change. 
If  we  can  find  a  fault  in  this  chapter,  it  is  that  there  is  only 
enough  of  it  to  whet  our  appetite  for  more  details  of  the 
progress  of  her  work.  Perhaps  we  may  hope  that  she  will 
satisfy  us  in  this  respect  on  a  future  occasion  when  her  work 
becomes  widely  known  and  read,  as  it  deserves  to  be.  After 
Mrs.  Gallup's  "personal"  chapter  there  follows  the  introduc- 
tion to  the  first  edition — printed  for  private  circulation  only. 
It  gives  a  short  summary  of  the  principal  facts  of  the  cipher 
story,  and  touches  on  points  of  interest  in  connection  with 
the  cipher,  two  of  which  we  will  briefly  allude  to  here.  It 
shows  how  the  cipher  explains  the  reason  for  the  extraordinary 

*The  Biliteral  Cipher  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  by  Mrs.  Gallup. 

81 


mispaging  of  the  original  editions,  carefully  adhered  to  in  all 
the  copies,  and  of  which  no  one  had  previously  been  able  to 
offer  a  satisfactory  explanation ;  and  it  touches  on  the  curious 
history  of  The  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  which  for  nearly  three 
centuries  has  been  attributed  to  Burton,  but  which  the  British 
Museum  catalogue  shows  to  have  been  first  published  under 
another  name  when  Burton  was  about  ten  years  old,  and  of 
which  in  the  cipher  story  Francis  Bacon  claims  the  authorship. 
The  preface  of  the  second  edition,  the  one  we  are  now  con- 
sidering and  the  first  given  to  the  public,  shows  the  cogent 
reasons  Bacon  had  for  using  the  cipher.  ''Two  distinct  gur- 
poses,"  says  the  author,  "are  served  by  the  two  ciphers.  The 
Biliteral  was  the  foundation  which  was  intended  to  lead  to 
the  other,  and  is  of  prime  importance  in  its  directions  concern- 
ing the  construction  of  the  Word  Cipher,  the  keys,  and  the 
epitome  of  the  topics  which  were  to  be  written  out  by  its 
aid.  It  seems  also  to  have  been  *  *  *  g^  gQj-t  of  diary 
*  *  *  *  and,  as  in  many  another  diary,  we  find  the  trend 
of  the  inind  as  affected  by  the  varying  moods — sometimes 
sad  and  mournful — again  defiant  and  rebellious — and  again 
despondent,  almost  in  despair,  that  his  wrongs  might  fail  of 
discovery,  even  in  the  times  and  land  afar  off  to  which  he 
looked  for  greater  honor  and  fame,  as  well  as  vindication. 

"Chafing  under  the  cloud  upon  his  birth,  the  victim  of  a  des- 
tiny beyond  his  control,  which  ever  placed  him  in  a  false  posi- 
tion, defrauded  of  his  birthright,  which  was  of  the  highest,  he 
committed  to  this  cipher  the  plaints  of  an  outraged  soul.  *  *  * 
To  the  decipherer,  he  unbends — to  the  rest  of  the  world  main- 
tains the  dignity  which  marked  his  outward  life.  *  *  *  It  is  a 
wonderful  revelation  of  the  undercurrents  of  a  hidden  life." 

"Some  Notes  on  the  Shakespeare  Plays,"  and  a  reprint  of 
an  article  on  Shorthand  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  from  the 
able  pen  of  Mrs.  H.  Pott,  whose  clear  and  logical  mind,  no 
less  than  her  deep  research  into  the  literature  of  Bacon's 
time,  makes  her  writings  always  welcome;  and  lastly  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  outlines  of  Bacon's  life,  complete  the  original 
portion  of  Part  I.  While  the  importance  of  these  introduc- 
tory chapters  lies  for  our  immediate  purpose  in  their  applica- 
tion to  the  Biliteral  Cipher  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  overestimate  their  intrinsic  merit,  literary  and 
historical.  We  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  authoress  and 
publishers  for  their  liberality  in  the  matter  of  facsimiles  by 
which  they  enable  us  not  only  to  follow  the  deciphering  but 
also  to  familiarize  ourselves  with  the  style  and  appearance 
of  the  original   editions   of  many  old   favorites,    a   privilege 

82 


hitherto  ahiiost  confined  to  those  who  have  time  and  oppor- 
tunity for  visiting  the  great  Hbraries.  In  this  part  are  com- 
prised Bacon's  description  of  his  BiHteral  Cipher,  with 
examples  and  double  alphabet;  the  frontispiece  and  preface 
to  the  Novum  Organum,  preceded  by  a  table  of  the  double 
alphabet,  by  means  of  which  the  cipher  is  unfolded ;  the 
Droeshout  portrait  and  all  the  introductory  pages  of  the 
famous  1623  folio  of  the  Shakespeare  plays;  and  the  title 
pages  of  several  other  of  the  deciphered  works.  The  preface 
to  the  Novum  Organum  is  also  given  in  modern  type,  the  two 
founts  being  marked  a  and  b  respectively,  thus  enabling  the 
reader  to  follow  in  extenso  the  method  of  deciphering. 

The  portraits  of  Bacon,  two  in  number,  to  which  we  have 
alluded,  are  the  well-known  one  in  which  he  is  seen  in  his  Chan- 
cellor's robes,  and  the  exquisite  miniature  of  Hilyard  sur- 
rounded by  the  noblest  halo  that  ever  adorned  a  human  portrait 
— "Si  tabula  daretur  digna,  animum  mallem"  (If  it  were  pos- 
sible to  have  a  canvas  worthy,  I  had  rather  paint  his  mind"). 

Of  the  second  part,  because  it  is  the  most  important,  we 
shall  say  least.  The  story  it  tells  is  startling,  fascinating, 
strange.  As  fiction  it  would  be  unique;  as  history,  though 
truth  is  proverbially  stranger  than  fiction,  it  is  unparalleled. 
Nothing  that  can  give  interest  to  a  book  is  wanting.  There 
is  the  excitement  of  discovery;  the  triumph  of  hidden  truth 
brought  to  light,  of  error  refuted ;  the  romance  of  a  great 
prince,  robbed  of  his  birthright,  who  finds  his  consolation  in 
winning  a  nobler  realm — the  kingdom  of  the  mind ;  the  trag- 
edy of  a  younger  brother,  a  wild  though  generous  spirit, 
seduced  by  misdirected  ambition  into  the  thorny  path  of  rebel- 
lion that  leads  to  the  question  and  the  block;  the  pathos  of 
a  noble  soul  torn  by  the  pangs  of  remorse  for  the  part  he 
was  forced  to  take  in  that  brother's  death  by  the  inexorable 
power  of  the  loftiest  sense  of  justice — that  power  which 
impelled  Lucius  Junius  Brutus  to  "call  his  3ons  to  punish- 
ment," Marcus  Brutus  to  robe  his  daggei-  in  the  imperial 
purple  of  liberty  drawn  from  the  veins  of  his  "best  lover" ; 
while  the  one  note  wanting  to  complete  the  full  chord  of 
romance  is  struck  in  the  tale  of  a  fruitless  passion  for  the  fair 
Queen  of  Navarre.  Besides  the  story  of  Bacon's  own  life 
and  times,  or  rather  of  that  part  of  his  life  and  times  hitherto 
unknown  to  history,  the  deciphered  story  gives  directions  for 
working  out  his  "Word  Cipher,"  and  summaries  of  those  noble 
poems  of  Homer,  the  Illiad  and  Odyssey,  with  some  passages 
translated  into  blank  verse,  which  we  think  will  compare  favor- 
ably with  any  previous  translations. 

83 


A  few  words  must  suffice  as  to  the  style.  As  we  have 
already  quoted,  the  book  is  a  diary;  and  the  exigencies  of 
secrecy  necessitate  much  repetition.  For,  as  Bacon  himself 
notes  in  the  cipher  story,  he  could  not  tell  what  book  might 
be  lost,  or  in  which  of  those  that  survived,  his  decipherer 
would  first  light  on  the  discovery.  Yet  in  parts  the  writing 
rises  to  a  great  height  of  eloquence.  We  cannot  resist  the 
temptation  to  quote  two  passages  from  the  cipher  which  seem 
to  us,  each  in  its  own  way,  eminently  beautiful.  The  first, 
though  it  refers  only  to  the  difficulty  of  constructing  the 
Word  Cipher  can,  we  think,  hardly  be  surpassed  for  happiness 
of  metaphors  or  grace  of  diction.  "'Tis  the  labour  of  years," 
says  Bacon,  "to  provide  th'  widely  varied  prose  in  which  the 
lines  of  verse  have  a  faire  haven,  and  lye  anchor'd  untill  a 
day  when  th'  coming  pow'r  may  say :  'Hoist  sayle,  away ! 
For  the  windes  of  heav'n  kisse  your  fairy  streamers,  and  th' 
tide  is  afloode.    On  to  thy  destiny !'  " 

The  second  is  the  cry  of  a  soul  in  anguish. 

"O  Source  infinite  of  light,  ere  Time  in  existence  was,  save 
in  Thy  creative  plan,  all  this  tragedy  unfolded  before  Thee.  A 
night  of  Stygian  darknesse  encloseth  us.  My  hope  banish'd  to 
realms  above,  taketh  its  flight  through  th'  clear  aire  of  the 
Scyences  unto  bright  daye  with  Thyselfe.  As  thou  didst  con- 
ceale  Thy  lawes  in  thick  clouds,  enfolde  them  in  shades  of 
mysterious  gloom.  Thou  didst  infuse  from  Thy  spirit  a  desire 
to  put  the  day's  glad  work,  th'  evening's  thought,  and  mid- 
night's meditation  to  finde  out  their  secret  workings. 

"Only  thus  can  I  banish  from  my  thoughts  my  beloved 
brother's  untimely  cutting  off  and  my^  wrongfull  part  in  his 
tryale.  O,  had  I  then  one  thought  of  th'  great  change  his 
death  would  cause — how  life's  worth  would  shrinke,  and  this 
world's  little  golden  sunshine  be  but  as  collied  night's  swifte 
lightning — this  had  never  come  as  a  hound  of  th'  hunt  to  my 
idle  thoughts."  Mrs.  Gallup's  claim  to  have  discovered  the  ex- 
istence of  Francis  Bacon's  Biliteral  Cipher  in  many  of  the  works 
of  his  time  is  one  which,  in  view  of  the  story  deciphered,  will,  if 
substantiated,  oblige  us  to  rewrite  a  page  of  history  and  to  tear 
a  mask  from  many  an  idol  before  which  we  have  bowed  for 
three  centuries.  We  shall,  therefore,  require  the  most  convinc- 
ing proofs  of  the  bona  fides  of  the  discovery.  The  discussion 
of  this  question,  however,  we  leave  to  a  future  article. 


84 


THE  BACONIAN  CIPHER— II. 
By  Fleming  Eulchee. 

Last  week  we  reviewed  the  subject  matter  of  "The  Biliteral 
Cipher  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon"  by  Mrs.  Galhip.  This  week 
we  have  to  redeem  the  promise  then  made  to  discuss  the  claims 
which  the  discovery  embodied  in  it  has  on  our  credence.  Let 
us  first  clearly  define  what  that  discovery  claims  to  be.  It  is 
not  that  Francis  Bacon  invented  a  cipher  which  he  calls 
"Biliteral."  That  is  a  fact  which  has  been  known  to  the  world 
for  three  centuries.  What  the  authoress  claims  to  have  dis- 
covered is  that  this  cipher  is  used  in  all  the  original  editions 
of  Bacon's  printed  works,  and  that  she  has  deciphered  the 
hidden  story  by  means  of  it.  If  this  claim  can  be  substan- 
tiated, it  will  decide  once  for  all  the  Bacon  v.  Shakespeare 
controversy  in  favor  of  the  former,  for  in  the  deciphered  story 
Bacon  claims  the  authorship  of  the  Shakespeare  plays  and 
poems,  as  well  as  of  other  works  which  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  attribute,  in  some  cases  on  little  or  no  evidence,  to 
others  of  his  "masques." 

Some  fifty  years  ago  the  theory  was  started,  independently 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  that  "Shakespeare"  was  in 
reality  only  a  pen-name  of  Francis  Bacon,  and  that  it  is  to 
that  great  genius,  not  to  the  actor  of  Stratford-on-Avon,  that 
the  world  owes  its  finest  dramas.  A  storm  of  derision,  of 
course,  greeted  the  theory,  as  it  does  every  theory  that  attacks 
a  generally  accepted  belief,  however  erroneous;  and  it  was 
only  necessary  to  hold  the  theory  to  be  at  once  classed  with 
the  inmates  of  a  lunatic  asylum — though  one  would  hardly 
have  supposed  such  an  institution  a  suitable  residence  {exempli 
gratia)  for  Lord  Palmerston.  Just  such  a  storm  of  ridicule, 
coupled  with  persecution,  happily  for  "Baconians"  impossible 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  greeted  Galileo's  discovery  that  the 
earth  moves  round  the  sun.  "E  puo  si  muove,"  and  during 
the  past  fifty  years  the  Baconian  theory,  under  the  influence 
of  careful  and  patient  investigation  of  internal  and  external 
evidence,  has  been  steadily  gaining  ground.  A  fair  example 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Baconian  theory  is  met  by  its  adver- 
saries is  the  reply  which  was  given  to  a  friend  of  the  present 

85 


writer  by  a  well-known  scholar  and  "Shakespearian"  authority : 
"If  Shakespeare  were  to  rise  from  the  grave  and  tell  me  that 
Bacon  was  the  author  of  the  plays,  I  would  not  believe  him." 
Take  another  typical  specimen;  it  is  a  criticism  (save  the 
mark!)  on  the  work  we  are  now  considering  that  appeared 
recently  in  a  daily  contemporary : — "A  fresh  campaign  by 
the  Baconian  zealots  is  threatened.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wells 
Gallup  claims  to  have  discovered  and  deciphered  the  mysteri- 
ous secrets  which  Bacon,  she  would  have  us  believe,  buried  in 
his  writings.  In  the  'Biliteral  Cipher  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,' 
Greene,  Peele,  and  Marlowe,  as  well  as  Shakespeare,  all  go 
by  the  board;  Sir  Francis  explains  to  Mrs.  Gallup  that  their 
dramatic  \^orks  were  written  by  him  alone.  The  proofs,  she 
says,  are  'overwhelming  and  irresistible.'  The  day  will  come 
when  Macaulay's  New  Zealander  will  debate  whether  Bacon 
was  a  solar  myth  or  a  sort  of  Homer,  who  gathered  together 
all  Elizabethan  literature  in  a — cipher."  But  ridicule  and 
invective  are  not  argument,  prejudice  is  not  proof.  "Some 
of  our  friends,"  we  used  to  be  told  in  our  childhood,  "are  for 
warning,  others  for  example."  Taking  those  we  have  quoted 
for  warning,  let  us  give  a  fair  and  open-minded  consideration 
to  Mrs.  Gallup's  claims. 

To  do  this  it  will  be  necessary  to  describe  Bacon's  Biliteral 
Cipher.  His  own  description  of  it  may  be  seen  in  any  edition 
of  his  De  Augmentis.  Its  principle  is  extremely  simple,  being, 
in  fact,  that  of  the  Morse  Code  at  present  used  in  telegraphy — 
namely,  various  combinations  of  two  differences.  Thus,  if 
we  have  two  dissimilar  things  or  sets  of  things,  represented, 
let  us  suppose,  by  a  and  b  respectively,  there  are  thirty-two 
different  ways  in  which  we  can  arrange  them  in  sets  of  five; 
as,  for  example,  aaaaa,  aaaah,  a  a  ah  a,  and  so  on.  ( It 
should  be  noted  that  in  these  groups  a  and  h  are  merely  used 
as  symbols  to  represent  two  differences  which  might  be  equally 
well  represented  by  dots  and  dashes  or  any  other  convenient 
symbols.)  Now,  by  using  twenty- four  such  groups,  out  of 
the  possible  thirty-two,  and  letting  each  stand  for  a  different 
letter  of  the  alphabet  (in  Bacon's  day  I  and  J  counted  as  one 
letter,  as  did  also  U  and  V),  we  can  communicate  by  means 
of  two  differences  with  anyone  who  knows  what  letter  each 
group  stands  for.  Bacon's  method,  the  advantage  of  which 
lies  in  being  able  to  insert  anything  in  anything — omnia  per 
omnia,  as  he  says — is  to  have  two  complete  sets,  or  "founts" 
as  they  are  called,  of  type,  which  he  designates  the  a  and  h 
fount  respectively.  All  that  is  then  necessary  is  to  write  out 
the  secret  message  in  its  biliteral  form  letter  for  letter  over  or 

86 


under  the  matter  to  be  printed,  and,  as  each  letter  is  required, 
to  take  it  from  the  a  or  h  fount  according  as  the  one  or  the 
other  letter  appears  against  it.  For  example,  suppose  the 
words  to  be  printed  are  "The  Court  Journal,"  and  that  we 
want  to  "infold"  in  this  the  signature  "Fr.  B.,"  and  suppose 
our  a  fount  to  consist  of  Latin  and  our  h  fount  of  Italic  letters. 
Now,  in  Bacon's  biliteral  alphabet  F  is  represented  by  a  a  b  a  b, 
R  by  b  a  a  a  a,  and  B  by  a  a  a  a  b.  Our  MS.  would,  therefore, 
appear  thus : 

THE  COURT  JOURNAL, 
aab  abbaa  aaaaaab 

In  printing  we  should  take  the  T  and  H  from  the  a  fount, 
the  E  from  the  h  fount,  and  so  on.  The  words  would  then 
appear  thus : 

TH£  COURT  JOURNAZ,. 

The  decipherer  would  mark  the  letters  according  to  their 
respective  founts,  divide  it  into  groups  of  five,  and,  knowing 
what  letter  each  group  stands  for,  would  read  "Fr.  B." 

In  these  days  of  publicity  we  find  it  hard  to  accept  any- 
thing that  savors  of  mystery,  and  tolerance  of  opinion  and 
freedom  of  speech  have  made  it  difficult  to  credit  that  a  man 
should  have  had  motive  sufficient  for  putting  a  cipher  in  his 
books.  Yet,  at  the  present  day  all  internal  state  correspond- 
ence is  carried  on  in  cipher.  Why?  Because  every  other 
state  is  a  potential  enemy.  And  this  same  reason  made  cipher 
writing  common  among  individuals  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries,  for  in  those  days  when  "a  man's  head 
stood  tickle  on  his  shoulders"  every  other  individual,  with 
perhaps  the  exception  of  a  few  intimates,  was  a  potential 
enemy.  But  in  the  case  of  Francis  Bacon  there  are  special 
reasons  why  we  should  not  wonder  at  his  putting  a  cipher, 
and  that  his  own  Biliteral  Cipher,  into  his  published  works ; 
and  we  shall  be  able  to  show  that  so  far  from  its  being  strange 
that  he  should  do  so,  it  would  be  strange  had  he  not.  He 
invented  this  cipher  at  the  age  of  about  sixteen  or  seventeen, 
when  he  was  in  Paris.  Nearly  thirty  years  later,  in  1605,  he 
published  his  great  philosophical  work  Of  the  Advancement  of 
Learning.  It  is  significant  that  he  should  have  thought  ciphers 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  touched  on  in  his  work,  and  that 
he  should  have  alluded  to  this  particular  cipher  as  "the  highest 
degree  of  cyphers  which  is  to  write  omnia  per  omnia," 

In  1623  he  published  a  Latin  version  of  The  Advancement 
under  the  title  De  Augmentis  Scientiariim.  This  is  not  even 
a  mere  translation,     '{""he  book  has  l^een  entirely  rewritten  and 


greatly  enlarged,  and  is  translated  into  Latin  professedly 
because  he  feared  that  the  English  language  wanted  stability, 
while  he  believed  that  Latin  would  be  the  language  of  the 
learned  for  all  time.  Surely  now,  after  nearly  two  crowded 
decades  of  Statecraft,  of  Law,  of  Philosophy,  in  which  he  has 
"sounded  all  the  depths  and  shoals  of  honour,"  the  eminent 
statesman,  the  learned  lawyer,  the  profound  philosopher  will 
find  no  room  in  his  immortal  work  for  what  we  are  apt  to 
consider  an  ingenious  amusement  for  a  schoolboy.  Far  from 
being  omitted,  however,  the  paragraph  on  ciphers  is  enlarged 
to  some  pages,  the  greater  part  devoted  to  a  detailed  descrip- 
tion and  examples  of  the  cipher  alluded  to  by  him  nearly  a 
score  of  years  before,  invented  by  him  nearly  half  a  century 
earlier.  But  before  we  can  realize  the  full  force  of  these  facts 
it  will  be  necessary  to  glance  at  some  of  the  leading  traits  of 
Bacon's  character.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  most  peo- 
ple's knowledge  of  this  great  man  is  derived — directly  or  indi- 
rectly— almost  exclusively  from  one  essay  and  one  line  of 
poetry;  while  few  have  read  anything  of  his  writings  except 
his  essays.  Macaulay's  essay,  as  far  as  it  deals  with  the  moral 
side  of  Bacon's  character,  is  probably  the  greatest  libel  on  a 
great  man  that  ever  masqueraded  in  the  "weed"  of  criticism, 
and  Pope's  line  is  the  text  of  Macaulay's  essay  in  half  a  dozen 
words.  Both  have  painted  as  the  portrait  of  Bacon  a  figure 
impossible  in  human  nature,  "a.  vast  idol,"  as  Hepworth  Dixon 
well  expresses  it,  "the  head  of  gold  and  feet  of  clay."  But 
this  writer  and  Spedding  have  dipped  deep  into  the  well  of 
Truth,  and  with  her  waters  have  washed  away  the  mud  which 
had  been  flung  by  the  envious  hands  of  the  pigmy  contempor- 
aries over  whom  Francis  Bacon  towered,  and  have  shown  the 
whole  figure  to  be  sterling  gold  from  head  to  foot.  Even 
Macaulay  and  Pope,  however,  while  they  mistake  Bacon's 
moral  nature,  acknowledge  the  vastness  and  exquisiteness  of 
his  intellect,  though  again  on  this  side  they  fail  to  appreciate 
fully  his  "infinite  capacity  for  taking  pains."  "His  under- 
standing," says  the  brilliant  essayist,  "with  great  minuteness 
of  observation  had  an  aptitude  of  comprehension  such  as  has 
never  yet  been  vouchsafed  to  any  other  human  being.  The 
small  fine  mind  of  Labruyere  had  not  a  more  delicate  tact  than 
the  large  intellect  of  Bacon.  *  *  *  His  understanding 
resembled  the  tent  which  the  fairy  Paribanov  gave  to  Prince 
Ahmed.  Fold  it ;  and  it  seemed  a  toy  for  the  hand  of  a  lady. 
Spread  it;  and  the  armies  of  powerful  Sultans  might  repose 
beneath  its  shade." 


88 


Bacon's,  then,  was  just  such  a  temperament  as  would  have 
deHghted  in  the  continual  application  of  his  cipher;  one  to 
which  the  great  labor  involved — a  labor  which  to  most  would 
be  insufferable  drudgery — would  have  been  a  congenial  exer- 
cise or  might  have  proved  a  welcome  distraction  from  painful 
memories.  There  is  one  more  point  which  has  an  important 
bearing  in  this  connection.  The  guiding  star  of  Bacon's  life 
was  utility.  Everything  he  studied — and  what  did  he  not 
study? — he  studied  with  a  view  to  the  use  that  could  be  made 
of  it.  And  utility  was^the  mainspring  of  his  least  actions  no 
less  than  of  his  loftiest  philosophy.  If  this  be  granted,  and 
we  believe  no  one  will  for  a  moment  dispute  it,  we  have  the 
strongest  probability,  nay,  the  absolute  certainty,  that  he  used 
the  cipher  which  he  invented  and  published.  But  where? 
Only  one  answer  is  possible — "In  his  printed  works."  For 
we  have  seen  that  it  is  to  be  performed  by  means  of  two  founts 
of  type.  One  more  question  naturally  suggests  itself.  "Had 
he  adequate  motives  for  imposing  on  himself  the  labor  which 
the  extensive  use  of  the  cipher  involves?"  This  can  only  be 
answered  when  the  secret  is  no  longer  a  secret,  when  the  cipher 
is  deciphered.  The  story  as  deciphered  by  Mrs.  Gallup  gives 
an  emphatic  answer  in  the  affirmative.  The  statements 
unfolded  by  her  are  such  that,  while  their  publication  during 
his  lifetime  would  have  been  productive  of  no  good,  it  would 
have  cost  him  his  life.  But  in  the  interests  of  truth  and  for 
his  own  justification  he  wished  them  to  be  given  to  a  future 
age.  It  was  with  this  object  that  he  began  to  use  the  cipher, 
and  he  continued  its  use  as  a  distraction  from  the  agonies  of 
retrospection.  We  have  now  established,  as  we  think,  beyond 
contradiction,  the  fact  that  so  far  from  being  incredulous  as 
to  the  existence  of  the  biliteral  cipher  in  Bacon's  works,  we 
ought  to  expect  it.  How  is  it,  then,  the  reader  will  say,  that 
it  has  remained  undiscovered  for  so  long?  It  is  the  old  story 
once  more  of  Columbus  and  the  egg,  or,  as  Mrs.  Gallup  aptly 
quotes  from  Bacon  himself,  "in  which  sort  of  things  it  is  the 
manner  of  men,  first  to  wonder  that  such  a  thing  should  be 
possible,  and  after  it  is  found  out,  to  wonder  again  how  the 
world  should  miss  it  so  long." 


89 


THE  BACOATIAN  CIPHER.— III. 

By  Fleming  Fulchee. 

Our  discussion  of  this  question  last  week  led  us  by  a  priori 
argument  to  the  conclusion  that  Francis  Bacon  had  put  a 
cipher  story  into  his  printed  works. 

Now,  either  this  long-neglected  cipher  has  at  last  been 
discovered  and  deciphered  or  it  has  not.  That  is  a  truism. 
In  the  latter  case  two,  and  only  two,  hypotheses  are  possible; 
if  they  can  be  shown  to  be  false,  the  affirmative  proposition  is 
established.  These  two  hypotheses  are — (i)  that  a  deliberate 
fraud  is  being  perpetrated;  (2)  that  with  perfectly  honest 
intentions  our  authoress  has,  to  use  a  familiar  expression, 
"cooked"  the  cipher,  and  consequently  the  story  is  in  reality 
the  creation  of  her  own  brain.  It  would  be  a  wonderful  brain, 
indeed,  that  could  have  devised  and  executed  such  a  work. 
The  first  supposition,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  will  be  at  once 
dismissed  by  anyone  who  has  even  a  slight  acquaintance  with 
the  authoress.  But  as  this  is  a  privilege  necessarily  denied  to 
the  great  majority  of  our  readers,  let  us  examine  the  question 
impersonally  and  impartially  on  its  own  merits.  The  "fraud" 
hypothesis  would  mean  this — that  the  author  had  deliberately 
invented  the  whole  story,  and  stated  without  the  slightest 
foundation  in  fact  that  when  resolved  into  Francis  Bacon's 
biliteral  alphabet  it  would  be  found  to  correspond,  letter  by 
letter,  with  the  two  founts  of  Italic  type  which  occur  in  such 
profusion  in  the  works  deciphered^ — for  it  is  through  the  Italics 
that  the  cipher  runs.  Of  the  existence  of  different  founts  of 
Italic  type  in  these  works  there  is  no  question.  It  has  long 
been  known,  though  never  hitherto  explained ;  and  anyone  can 
verify  this  assertion  by  a  glance  at  the  original  editions,  or  at 
the  facsimiles  in  The  Biliteral  Cipher  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon. 

Now,  to  ensure  this  correspondence  between  the  cipher 
story  and  the  Italic  print  it  would  be  necessary  to  count  the 
letters  in  the  latter — in  itself  a  task  almost  as  great  as  the 
genuine  deciphering.  And  this  would  be  but  a  small  part  of 
the  labor  required.  It  would  be  far  surpassed  by  the  immense 
amount  of  literary,  linguistic,  and  historical  knowledge  and 
research  indispensable  for  the  avoidance  of  errors  which  would 

90 


soon  be  detected  by  the  critics,  and  which  would  at  once  expose 
the  fraud.  Again,  we  might  easily  conceive  that  the  author 
of  our  hypothetical  fraud  would  pretend  to  find  a  secret  his- 
tory of  Bacon's  time,  with  all  its  tragic  interest,  but  it  would 
be  hard  indeed  to  imagine  that  the  idea  would  suggest  itself 
of  pretending  to  find  summaries  of  and  poetical  translations 
from  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  or  that  the  author  would  be 
capable  of  expressing  them  with  such  true  Baconian  intuition 
and  freedom  as  they  display.  Still  less  is  it  likely  that  the 
author  would  run  the  risk  of  wearying  his  readers  with  direc- 
tions for  working  out  another  cipher,  which  would  also,  pre- 
sumably, be  non-existent,  or  with  frequent  repetitions,  which, 
however,  will  be  seen  to  be  necessary  if  the  cipher  is  genuine. 
These  considerations,  we  are  aware,  though  they  amount  to 
a  moral  certainty  of  the  impossibility  of  the  "fraud"  hypothesis, 
do  not  constitute  a  mathematical  proof  of  it.  There  is,  how- 
ever, one  which  seems  to  us  to  do  so.  In  the  case  of  some  of 
the  letters  the  difYerences  between  the  two  founts  are  so  slight 
that  it  would  be  dif^cult,  without  more  study  than  most  people 
would  be  prepared  to  give,  to  pronounce  with  certainty  to 
which  fount  these  letters  belonged.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  the  case  of  many  of  the  letters — most  of  the  capitals  and 
some  of  the  small  letters — the  differences  are  "so  plaine  as  thou 
canst  not  erre  therein."  Now,  as  these  letters  stand  in  fixed 
places  and  must  be  marked  always  a  or  h  according  to  their 
respective  founts,  the  fraud  would  at  once  be  detected,  for  it 
is  a  mathematical  impossibility  that  the  a's  and  &'s  of  the  bilit- 
eral  form  of  a  story  not  composed  with  reference  to  the  actual 
letters  could  always  fall  in  the  right  place.  So  much  for  the 
fraud  hypothesis.  The  hypothesis  of  unintentional  "cooking" 
may  be  very  briefly  dismissed.  We  had  intended  to  give  some 
rough  calculations  which  would  have  demonstrated  the  unten- 
ability  of  this  theory,  but  space  and  our  readers'  patience,  or 
rather  the  certain  want  of  the  one  and  the  probable  exhaustion 
of  the  other,  forbid.  When,  however,  it  is  considered  that 
the  cipher  story  has  to  be  got  out  letter  by  letter  from  the 
printed  matter ;  that  it  takes  five  letters  of  the  latter  to  make 
one  of  the  former;  and  that  if  one  letter  were  got  out  it  would 
give  no  assistance  in  extracting  the  next ;  unless  there  were  a 
cipher  there,  it  will  be  seen  that  no  assistance  would  be  obtained 
from  the  doubtful  letters,  and  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
obtain  any  sense  in  this  way.  We  have  now  fairly  examined 
the  only  two  hypotheses  on  which  it  is  possible  that  Mrs. 
Gallup's  claim  can  be  a  "bogus"  one,  and  proved  them  false. 
Thus  we  are  driven  by  tlie  inexorable  force  of  logic  to  the  only 


remaining  conclusion :  That  Francis  Bacon  did  put  a  cipher 
into  his  printed  works ;  that  Mrs.  Gallup  has  discovered  it  and 
has  translated  it. 

We  had  intended  to  produce  much  corroborative  evidence 
which,  though  we  now  find  it  superfluous,  we  believe  would 
have  been  interesting.  The  exigencies  of  space  again  prevent 
us.  One  piece,  however,  is  so  curious  that  we  feel  sure  our 
readers  will  pardon  us  if  we  produce  it.  We  can  vouch  for  the 
fact  that  it  was  unknown  to  our  authoress  when  the  statement 
it  corroborates  was  deciphered.  In  the  north  of  London  there 
is  still  standing  a  square  building  of  red  brick,  dating  from 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  which  is  known  as  Canonbury 
Tower.  That  in  no  history  of  the  tower,  nor  in  any  life  of 
Bacon  is  mention  made  of  its  being  connected  with  him,  is  only 
one  of  the  numerous  instances  of  the  mystery  which  always 
meets  us  when  we  try  to  search  deeper  into  the  life  of  Francis 
Bacon.  Yet  research  at  one  of  the  public  libraries  has  recently 
elicited  the  fact  that  he  took  a  lease  of  it  for  ninety-nine  years, 
that  he  lived  there  for  some  time,  apparently  in  charge  of  the 
Princes  Henry  and  Charles,  sons  of  James  I.,  and  that  he  was 
actually  living  there  at  the  time  he  received  the  seals. 

Close  under  the  ceiling,  on  the  wall,  in  a  dark  corner  of  a 
passage  in  the  Tower,  is  painted  an  inscription  consisting  of 
the  Sovereigns  of  England  from  the  Conquest.  The  names 
are  mostly  abbreviated,  and  with  one  exception  follow  each 
other  in  the  recognized  order.  But  between  Elizabeth  and 
James  stands,  in  the  same  way  as  the  other  abbreviations,  Fr. 
No  explanation  of  this  interpolation  appeared  until  the 
deciphered  story  brought  to  light  the  facts  that  Queen  Eliza- 
beth was  secretly  married  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  that 
the  great  man  whom  we  have  known  as  Francis  Bacon  was 
in  reality  her  first-born  son,  and  therefore  the  true,  though 
unacknowledged,  heir  to  the  throne. 

We  must  not  conclude  without  a  slight  tribute,  not  the 
less  sincere  that  it  must  of  necessity  be  brief,  to  the  merits  of 
Mrs.  Gallup's  brilliant  discovery,  and  the  patient  diligence 
with  which  she  has  gradually  unrolled  the  cerements  and 
brought  to  light  one  by  one  truths  so  long  buried.  We  feel 
almost  tempted  to  envy  the  feelings  which  must  have  swept 
over  her  as  the  first  sentence  came  to  light  from  its  cipher 
tomb.  They  must  have  been  such  as  stirred  the  soul  of 
Columbus  when,  after  the  long  night  of  impatient  expecta- 
tion, the  light  of  morning  broke  and  revealed  to  his  triumphant 
gaze  the  shores  of  the  new  continent.     Let  us  franTvly  confess 

92 


our  gratitude  to  our  authoress,  who  has  enabled  us  to  feel 
once  more  the  "touch  Qf  a  vanished  hand,"  to  hear  once  more 
"the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still" — a  hand  that  was  ever 
stretched  down  from  lofty  height  to  help  and  raise  humanity, 
a  voice  that  will  ring  trumpet-tongued  through  all  ages — the 
hand  and  voice  of  one  who  "had  an  aspect  as  if  he  pitied  men." 


The  reference  to  Canonbury  Tower,  by  Mr.  Fulcher, 
renders  the  following  quotations  from  a  late  number  of 
"Baconiana"  of  especial  interest,  as  tracing  the  history  of 
this  ancient  and  historic  pile.  The  building  is  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation.  The  lines  are  in  an  obscure  part  of 
the  building  but  are  plainly  observable,  as  was  verified  by  a 
personal  examination  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Gallup,  in  Novem- 
ber last.  It  is  one  of  the  interesting  corroborations  which 
are  accumulating,  and  now  being  understood  in  the  light  of 
the  cipher  disclosures,  going  to  show  that  Francis  was 
entitled  to  a  place  in  the  line  of  England's  kings. 


93 


A  ^^EW  LIGHT. 
O^   THE    BACO^"— SHAKESPEARE    CYPHEE. 


The   !Rineteenth    Century   and   After, — London. 


Of  all  the  critical  paradoxes  that  have  ever  been  seriously  advo- 
cated, few  have  been  received  with  such  general  and  derisive 
indifference  as  that  which  declares  Bacon  to  have  been  the 
author  of  the  dramas  ascribed  to  Shakespeare,  and  which 
couples  this  declaration  with  another — more  startling  still — 
that  these  dramas  are  not  dramas  only,  but  are  besides  a  series 
of  writings  in  cypher,  whose  inner  meaning  bears  no  relation 
whatever  to  their  ostensible  meaning  as  dramas,  but  which  con- 
sist of  memoranda  or  memoirs  concerning  Bacon  himself,  and 
secrets  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  mere  theory  that  Bacon  was 
the  real  author  of  the  plays,  though  the  mass  of  Shakespeare's 
readers  still  set  it  down  as  an  illusion,  does  not,  indeed,  contain 
anything  essentially  shocking  to  common  sense.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  is  generally  recognised  that  on  purely  a  priori  grounds 
there  is  less  to  shock  common  sense  in  the  idea  that  those  won- 
derful compositions  were  the  work  of  a  scholar,  a  philosopher, 
a  statesman,  and  a  profound  man  of  the  world,  than  there  is  in 
the  idea  that  they  were  the  work  of  a  notoriously  ill-educated 
actor,  who  seems  to  have  found  some  difficulty  in  signing  his 
own  name.  This  latter  idea,  which  is  still  generally  accepted, 
has  little  evidence  to  support  it  beyond  tradition,  which  is  strong, 
and  strong  only,  in  the  absence  of  evidence  to  the  contrary;  and 
were  such  evidence  forthcoming,  it  would  be  impossible  for  the 
candid  mind  to  reject  it  on  the  grounds  that  it  pointed  to  any 
improbable  conclusion. 

But  with  regard  to  the  theory  of  the  cypher  the  case  is  dif- 
ferent.   This  is  generally  rejected  or  neglected  both  by  scholars 

94 


and  the  reading  public,  not  on  the  ground  that  the  evidence  for 
it  is  insufficient,  but  on  the  ground  that  it  is  in  itself  so  unlikely, 
so  fantastic,  so  impossible  that  it  is  not  worth  a  sane  man's  while 
to  consider  the  misguided  ingenuities  by  which  a  few  literary 
monomaniacs  have  endeavoured  to  make  it  plausible  How  is 
it  possible,  the  ordinary  man  asks,  to  believe  that  the  finest  and 
profoundest  poetry  in  the  world — that  the  verses  which  give  us 
in  music  the  love  of  Romeo  and  Juliet,  the  torture  of  Hamlet's 
philosophy,  the  majestic  calm  of  Prospero's — was  composed,  or 
rather  constructed,  as  an  elaborate  verbal  puzzle,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  preserve  for  some  future  decipherer  a  collection  of 
political  and  mainly  personal  information,  which  the  author  was 
too  timid  to  confide  himself  to  his  contemporaries  ?  We  might 
just  as  well  believe  that  Paradise  Lost  is  in  reality  a  kind  of 
Pepys'  Diary,  in  which  the  poet  has  recorded  for  posterity  the 
curtain-lectures  of  Mrs.  Milton.  Such  is  the  argument  which 
the  ordinary  man  uses ;  and  if  he  consents  to  consider  the  matter 
a  little  farther,  and  finds,  as  he  will  find,  that  the  advocates  of 
the  cypher  theory  maintain  that  Bacon,  in  the  Shakespearian 
plays,  has  hidden  away  not  one  cypher  but  six,  his  dismissal  of 
their  theory  will  be  yet  more  curt  and  contemptuous.  Of  this 
attitude  of  mind  I  am  able  to  speak  with  sympathy,  for  the  excel- 
lent reason  that  it  was  till  lately  my  own.  A  remarkable  vol- 
ume, however,  known  at  present  to  surprisingly  few  readers,  has 
been  recently  published,  dealing  with  the  subject  before  us — a 
volume  which  at  first  I  glanced  at  with  apathetic  distrust,  but 
which  has  caused  me,  when  I  read  it  carefully,  to  reconsider  the 
question.  The  contents  of  this  volume  I  shall  here  briefly  sum- 
marise, leaving  the  reader  to  escape  from  its  conclusions  if  he 
can.  The  volume  is  called  The  Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Prancis 
Bacon.  It  was  first,  I  believe,  printed  privately,  less  than  two 
years  ago ;  and  a  small  second  edition  was  issued  last  year  to  the 
public.  I  will  begin  with  describing  its  exact  scope,  which  is 
limited.  Of  the  six  Baconian  cyphers  alleged  to  exist  in  Shake- 
speare, this  volume  deals  only  with  one;  and  it  is  v/ith  this  one 
only  that  I  shall  ask  the  reader  to  concern  himself. 

The  biliteral  cypher  possesses  two  remarkable  character- 
istics, which  it  is  desirable  to  mention  at  starting,  because  they 
at  once  dispose  of  all  those  a  priori  objections  which  suggest 
themselves,  as  we  have  just  seen,  against  the  cypher  theory  gen- 

95 


erally.  In  the  first  place  this  cypher,  whether  it  exists  in  the 
Shakespearian  plays  or  not,  is  demonstrably  not  the  invention 
of  any  modern  literary  lunatic.  It  was  invented  by  Bacon  him- 
self ;  and  an  elaborate  account  of  it,  together  with  examples  of  its 
use,  is  to  be  found,  as  will  be  shown  presently,  in  one  of  his  most 
celebrated  works.  In  the  second  place — and  this  is  a  point 
which  it  is  still  more  important  to  urge  on  the  a  priori  sceptic — 
the  biliteral  cypher  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  com- 
position or  the  wording  of  the  works  into  which  it  is  introduced. 
There  might  be  a  biliteral  cypher  in  Hamlet  from  end  to  end, 
without  any  thought  of  a  cypher  having  been  present  to  the 
author  when  he  was  writing  it.  It  is,  in  other  words,  altogether 
a  matter  of  typography.  It  depends  not  on  what  the  author 
writes,  but  on  the  manner  in  which  he  is  printed.  Accordingly, 
vv^hen  what  we  may  call  the  Baconian  party  informs  the  world 
that  they  have  discovered  a  biliteral  cypher,  of  which  the  author 
is  Bacon,  running  through  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  they  are 
really  indulging  in  a  gross  inaccuracy  of  language,  which  does 
much  to  prevent  a  fair  hearing  being  accorded  to  them.  What 
they  really  mean  is  that  this  biliteral  cypher  runs  not  through  the 
plays  themselves,  but  through  one  particular  edition  of  them — 
that  is  to  say,  the  celebrated  first  folio.  This  edition,  as  every 
student  knows,  is  remarkable  for  many  extraordinary  anomalies 
in  its  typography.  Of  these  anomalies  an  explanation  is  now  for 
the  first  time  offered  to  us.  They  are  presented  to  us — and  it  is 
claimed  that  they  are  thus  explained  completely — as  part  and 
parcel  of  the  newly  discovered  typographical  cypher.  If  we  take 
these  devices  away  the  cypher  disappears  with  them.  If  we 
resort,  with  the  aid  of  the  printer,  to  devices  of  the  same  kind,  we 
could  embody  the  cypher  anew,  and  every  sentence  that  Bacon 
committed  to  it,  in  any  book  we  might  choose  to  reprint,  so  far 
as  its  length  permitted — in  Pickwick,  in  Vanity  Fair,  in  Tup- 
per's  Proverbial  Philosophy,  in  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John,  or  in 
the  advertisement-sheet  of  the  Times. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  describe  what  the  nature  of  the  cypher 
is ;  and  it  shall  first  be  introduced  to  the  reader  in  the  words  of 
Bacon  himself.  In  the  De  Angmentis  Scientiarum  Bacon  writes 
thus  :* 


*The  passage  quoted  is  from  the  translation  by  Gilbert  Wats,  1640,  as 
reproduced  in  The  Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon,  at  the  end  of  Part  I. 


96 


Let  us  come  to  Cyphars.  Their  kinds  are  many,  as  Cyphars  simple. 
Cyphars  intermixt  with  Nulloes,  or  Non-significant  characters  ;  Cyphars  of 
double  letters  under  one  character ;  Wheele-cyphars,  Kay-cyphars,  Cyphars 
of  Words,  Others.  .  .  .  But  that  jealousies  may  be  taken  away,  we  will 
annexe  one  other  invention,  which,  in  truth,  we  devised  in  our  own  youth, 
when  we  were  in  Paris :  and  it  is  a  thing  which  yet  seemeth  to  us  not  worthy 
to  be  lost.  It  containeth  the  highest  degree  of  Cypher,  which  is  to  signify 
omnia  per  omnia,  yet  so  as  the  writng  infolding  may  bear  a  quintuple  relation 
to  the  writing  infolded.  No  other  condition  or  restriction  whatsoever  is 
required.  It  shall  be  performed  thus.  First,  let  all  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet,  by  transposition,  be  resolved  into  two  letters  onely ;  for  the  trans- 
position of  two  letters  by  five  placings  will  be  sufficient  for  thirty-two  differ- 
ences, much  more  for  twenty-four,  which  is  the  number  of  the  alphabet. 
The  example  of  such  an  alphabet  is  in  this  wise : 


A 

a  a  a  a  a 

1 

a  b  a  a  a 

R 

b  a  a  a  a 

B 

a  a  a  a  b 

K 

ab  a  a  b 

S 

b  a  a  ab 

C 

a  a  a  b  a 

L 

a  b  a  b  a 

T 

b  a  a  b  a 

D 

a  a  a  b  b 

M 

a  b  a  b  b 

V 

b  a  abb 

E 

a  a  b  a  a 

N 

a  bb  aa 

W 

b  a  b  a  a 

F 

a  a  b  a  b 

O 

ab  b  a  b 

X 

b  abab 

G 

a  a  b  b  a 

P 

abb  ba 

Y 

b  abba 

H 

a  a  bb  b 

Q 

abbbb 

Z 

babbb 

.  .  .  When  you  addresse  yourself  to  write,  resolve  your  inward  infolded 
letter  into  this  Bi-literarie  Alphabet.     Say  the  interior  letter  be  'Fuge.' 

Example  of  Solution 

FUGE 
aabab    baabb    aabba    aabaa 

Together  with  this  you  must  have  ready  at  hand  a  bi-formed  Alphabet, 
•which  may  represent  all  the  letters  of  the  Common  Alphabet^  as  well  Capitall 
Letters  as  the  Smaller  Characters,  in  a  double for^ne,  as  may  fit  every  mau's 
occasion. 

abab  abab 

EE  e  e  FFff 

aljab  abab 

LL  II  M  M  m  m 

abab  abab 

RTirr  SS   s  s 

abab  abab 

Viyy  ZZzz 

Now  to  the  interior  letter  which  is  bi-literate,  you  shall  fit  a  bi-formed 
exterior  letter,  which  shall  answer  the  other,  letter  for  letter,  and  after- 
wards set  it  downe.  Let  the  exterior  example  be,  Manere  te  volo,  donee 
Venero. 

An  Example  oj  Accommodation . 

F  U  G  E 

a    abab  .baabb.  aabba.  aabaa 
M  a  n  e  r     ate  v  n    I  o  d  o  n      e  c  v  e  n  [ero] 

97 


(abab 

abab 

abab 

abab 

1  A  A  a  a 

BBbb 

CCcc 

DDdd 

j    a  b  a  b 

abab 

a  babab 

abab 

I  G  G^y 

Hllh  h 

1 1  i  %  j  J 

KKkk 

1   a  b  a  b 

abab 

abab 

abab 

/  NNn  n 

OOoo 

PPpp 

QQ  q   q 

i    a  b  a  b 

a   b  a  b  a 

b 

abab 

abab 

IT  T  t  t 

V  Vv V u u 

IV  Www 

XX  XX 

From  this  short  example  Bacon  then  proceeds  to  a  longer 
one.  He  takes  an  entire  page  from  one  of  Cicero's  letters,  and 
so  prints  it  in  italics  from  two  founts,  similar  to  those  in  the 
alphabet  just  given,  that  it  infolds  an  interior  letter  from  a 
Spartan  general,  'Sent  once  in  a  scytale,  or  round  cypher'd 
staffe.'  The  quotation  from  Cicero  it  is  unnecessary  to  give 
here.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  as  printed  by  Bacon,  the  ordin- 
ary reader  would  detect  nothing  out  of  the  common  in  it;  but 
when  once  his  eye  is  made  alert  by  the  knowledge  that  its  char- 
acters are  drawn  from  two  different  founts  of  type,  he  can,  by 
the  aid  of  the  alphabets  supplied  by  Bacon,  easily  decipher  for 
himself  the  Spartan  message  infolded  in  it. 

It  is  the  above  passage,  occurring  in  Bacon's  own  work, 
which  has  led  to  the  alleged  discovery  set  forth  in  the  volume 
with  which  we  are  now  dealing ;  and  the  history  of  the  discovery, 
as  we  there  find  it,  is  curious.  For  a  considerable  time  an 
American  student,  Dr.  Owen,  had  been  working  at  the  elucida- 
tion of  another  cypher  altogether,  also  alleged  to  be  Bacon's,  and 
to  exist  in  the  Shakespearian  plays.  This  is  the  word-cypher. 
With  its  details  we  need  not  here  concern  ourselves.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  an  American  lady,  Mrs.  Gallup,  was  his 
assistant.  The  above  passage  from  Bacon  arrested  her  atten- 
tion, and  she  became  convinced  that  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  had 
been  described  by  its  inventor  with  special  ulterior  purpose  and 
might  possibly  be  found  co-existing  in  Shakespearian  plays  with 
the  others.  She  was  fortified  in  this  idea  by  the  well  known 
and  unexplained  peculiarities  in  the  printing  of  the  first  folio  to 
which  I  have  already  alluded,  and  she  claims  that  on  examining 
this  volume  she  found  her  suspicions  correct.  The  result  has 
been  the  book  under  review.  After  its  publication  Mrs.  Gallup 
came  to  England,  her  sole  object  being  to  examine  certain  rare 
old  books  which  could  not  be  procured  in  America  and  find  if 
possible  the  first  inception  of  the  cypher  writings,  and  in  this  she 
claims  to  have  been  successful*  Before  going  farther  I  will 
direct  the  reader's  attention  once  again  to  the  bi-literal  cypher 
itself,  and  endeavor  to  make  the  nature  of  it  clearer  to  him 
than  it  will  probably  have  been  made  by  Bacon's  own,  somewhat 
clumsy,  exposition  of  it. 


*Published,   since   this   article   was   written,    in   the   Third   Edition   of 
Bacon's  Bi-literal  Cyplier. 

98 


In  the  first  place  it  should  be  observed  that  Bacon's  own 
name  for  it — 'bi-literal' — is  essentially  inaccurate  and  mislead- 
ing. He  means  by  the  word  'bi-literal'  that  the  letters  of  his 
second  alphabet  are  all  formed  out  of  two — that  is  to  say,  'a'  and 
'b,'  by  arranging  them  variously  in  so  many  groups  of  five. 
But  the  letters  *a'  and  'b/  when  used  for  this  purpose,  are  prop- 
erly speaking  not  letters  at  all.  They  have  no  phonetic  value, 
they  are  simply  arbitrary  signs.  Their  function  would  be  ful- 
filled equally  well  or  better  by  dots  and  dashes  (  .  and  — ),  or 
else  by  the  longs  and  shorts  (-  and  o)  which  are  familiar  to 
every  schoolboy  as  symbols  of  prosodical  quantity.  The  cypher 
is  a  cypher  of  two  signs,  not  of  two  letters.  It  is,  in  fact,  merely 
a  species  of  Morse  Code.  Let  the  reader  look  back  to  the  bi- 
literal  code  or  alphabet,  as  formulated  by  Bacon  himself,;  and, 
for  an  example,  let  him  take  four  letters — a,  b,  e,  and  1 — which 
I  choose  merely  because  several  different  words  can  be  spelt  with 
them.  He  will  see  that  for  'a'  the  symbol  is  five  Vs  (a  a  a  a  a), 
for  'b'  four  'a's  and  a  *b'  (a  a  a  a  b),  for  'e'  two  'a's,  a  'b',  and 
two  'a's  (a  a  b  a  a),  and  for  T  two  consecutive  'a  b's  and  one  V 
(a  b  a  b  a).  Let  him  rid  himself  of  these  'a's  and  'b's,  and  sub- 
stitute dots  and  dashes ;  let  every  'b'  be  a  dash,  and  every  'a'  a 
dot.  The  result  will  be  just  the  same,  and  his  mind  will  most 
likely  be  clearer.    His  code  signs  for  these  four  letters  will  be  as 

follows:    A ;B....  —  ;E..  — . .  ;  L.  — . — .    Now  let 

him  write,  in  this  code,  'ale,'  'all,'  'ball,'  'bell,'  'Abel.  No  exer- 
cise could  be  easier.    'Ale'  will  be — .  — .   .  .  — .  .  ;  'All' 

will  be — .  — .    .  — .  — .  ;  'Ball'  will  be  .  .  .  .— 

.  — .  — .     .  —  .  —  .;    'Beir    will   be    .  .  .  .—    ..  — ..     .  — .  — . 

.  — .  — .  ;  and  'Abel'  will  be —   .  .  — .  .    .  — .  — . 

Now  we  come  to  the  next  part  of  our  problem.  Having  writ- 
ten 'ale,'  'all,'  'ball,'  'bell,'  and  'Abel'  in  dots  and  dashes — 
which  constitutes,  we  will  suppose,  some  message  which  we  wish 
to  convey — our  next  task  is  to  hide  this  in  a  series  of  words  with 
which,  seemingly,  our  message  shall  have  no  connection.  For 
the  moment,  instead  of  adopting  the  precise  method  of  Bacon, 
let  us  take  a  much  cruder  one,  which  will  be  at  once  grasped  by 
everybody.  Let  us  make  every  capital  letter  signify  a  dot  in  our 
code,  and  every  small  letter  a  dash ;  and  let  us  arrange  the  code 
symbols  of  our  five  words  in  a  line,  thus  : 


99 


We  have  here  a  series  of  ninety  dots  and  dashes,  and  all  we 
need  now  do  is  to  take  any  sentence  we  please — any  chance 
fragment,  whether  of  prose  or  poetry — which  contains  not  less 
than  ninety  letters,  and  ignoring  the  ordinary  use  of  small  letters 
and  capitals,  write  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  put  a  capital  for  every 
dot  and  a  small  letter  for  every  dash.  Let  us  take,  for  example, 
the  first  verses  of  Gray's  'Elegy,'  and  write  it  in  this  manner. 
What  we  shall  get  is  as  follows  : 

THECU  RfEwT  OLIST  HEKNE  UOfP  ArTiN  GDAYt 
HELOW  InGhE  RdWiN  DSSLo  WLyOE  RtHeL  EaThE 
PLOUG  HMANh  OMeWA  RdPlO  &c. 

All  the  five  words  with  which  we  started  are  here  contained 
in  our  cypher;  and  the  decipherer  has  only  to  perform  the 
childishly  simple  task  of  putting  a  dot  under  each  capital  and  a 
dash  under  each  small  letter,  and  he  has  them  back  again  in  the 
form  given  above.  To  illustrate  the  complete  independence  of 
what  Bacon  calls  the  'infolding'  document  from  the  'infolded,' 
let  us  set,  one  under  the  other,  one  of  Gray's  lines,  and  some  dif- 
ferent sets  of  words  altogether. 

THECU  RfEwT  OUST  HEKNE  LlOfP  ArTiN  GDAY 
OFMAN   SfIrS  TDiSO  BEDIE  NcEaN  DtHeF  RUIT 
SINGA  SoNgO  FSiXP  ENCEA  BaBfU  LlOfR  YEFO   (ur)&c. 

Every  one  of  these  lines,  when  resolved  into  dots  and  dashes, 
will  be  the  same,  and  will  read  thus  : 

a       I        1       I       e       I       a       I  | 

V    (b)  &c./ 

Bacon's  system  differs  from  this  merely  in  the  fact  that, 
instead  of  using  the  capitals  and  the  small  letters  of  one  ordinary 
alphabet  as  the  equivalents  respectively  of  his  'a's  and  'b's — that 
is  to  say,  of  his  dots  and  dashes — he  uses  two  italic  alphabets,  of 
capitals  and  small  letters,  complete;  both  the  capitals  and  small 
letters  of  one  meaning  dots  or  'a's,  and  the  capitals  and  small 

100 


letters  of  the  other  meaning  dashes  or  'b's.  Let  us  now  proceed 
to  adopt  his  system  a  little  more  nearly  ourselves,  diverging 
from  it  only  in  the  fact  that  our  two  complete  alphabets,  instead 
of  being  two  slightly  different  varieties  of  italics,  shall  consist, 
the  one  of  italics  and  the  other  of  ordinary  type,  the  italics  rep- 
resenting the  'a's  or  dots,  the  ordinary  letters  the  'b's  or  dashes ; 
and  we  will,  as  preliminary  examples,  imagine  two  cases,  parallel 
to  that  which  is  alleged  to  be  Bacon's  own.  The  following  lines 
are  Byron's,  which  I  quote  from  memory ;  and  they  are  printed 
in  accordance  with  the  principles  just  laid  down  : 

Saint  Feter  sat  at  the  celestial  gate; 

The  keys  wer^  rusty,  and  the  lock  was  dull, 
So  littlt  trouble  had  been  given  of  late. 

Not  that  the  place  by  any  vieans  was  iull, 
But  since  the  Gallic  era  Kighty-eight 

The  devils  had  ta'en  a  longer,  stronger  pull, 
And  a  pull  all  together,  as  they  say 

At  .jea,  which  drew  most  souls  the  other  way. 

The  angels  all  were  singing  out  of  tune, 

And  hoarse  with  haz/ing  little  else  to  do, 
Eyiceptitig  to  wind  up  the  sun  and  moon, 

And  cwrb  a  runaway  young  sta[r  or  two,  &c.] 

To  this  passage,  before  examining  it,  let  us  add  some  others 
from  Milton,  printed  in  the  same  manner;  and  let  us  imagine, 
for  reasons  which  will  appear  presently,  that  we  have  an  edition 
of  Milton  in  which  certain  passages,  and  certain  passages  only — 
those  which  we  shall  quote  being  among  them — are  printed  in 
these  two  characters,  and  are  consequently  at  once  distinguish- 
able from  the  rest  of  the  text. 

Of  man's  first  disobedience,  and  the  fruit 
Of  that  forbidden  tree,  whos^  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  wot  Id  and  all  our  wo^. 
With  loss  of  Eden,  till  one  greater  man 
Restore  us,  and  regain  those  blissful  seats. 
Sing  Heavenly  Muse. 

A  little  onward  lend  thy  guiding  hand 

To  these  dark  steps — a  little  farther  on, 

For  yonder  bank  has  choice  oi  sun  and  shade. 

The  sun  to  me  is  dark 
And  silent  as  the  i-noon 
When  she  deserts  the  night, 
Hid  in  her  vacant  interlunar  cave. 


101 


Yet  onct  more,  oh  ye  laurels,  and  once  mor^ 

Ye  m^T^le^  hr own,  and  ify  7iev^r  sere, 

I  come  to  pluck  your  berries  harsh  and  crude, 

And  with  forced  fingers  rude 

Shatter  your  leaves,  &c.,  &c. 

Now  in  the  above  passages,  if  we  except  only  the  fact  that 
the  dots  and  dashes  of  the  cypher  are  represented  in  these  by 
itahcs  and  ordinary  letters,  whereas  Bacon  employs  two  slightly 
different  forms  of  italics,  we  have  the  biliteral  cypher  exempli- 
fied completely,  though  with  extreme  simplicity.  But  we  have 
not  this  only.  As  the  reader  will  see  presently,  we  have  exem- 
plified in  them  also  another  of  the  claims  now  made  for  Bacon 
in  relation  to  works  published  under  another  name.  It  may 
amuse  some  readers  to  extract  the  cypher  in  these  passages  for 
themselves.  They  will  begin  thus,  putting  dots  under  the  italics 
and  dashes  under  the  ordinary  letters  : 

They  will  then  divide  these  dots  and  dashes  into  groups  of 
five,  thus  :  .  — ...,  — .  — ..,.  — ...;  and  on  turning  to  Bacon's 
code,  already  given,  they  will  find  that  these  three  groups  mean 
I.  W.  I.  Pursuing  this  method,  they  will  find  that  in  the  passage 
from  Byron  the  following  meaning  is  'infolded :' 

'I,  William  Wordsworth,  am  the  author  of  the  Byron  poems. 
Don  Juan  contains  my  private  prayers.' 

In  the  passages  from  Milton,  the  'infolded'  meaning  is  this : 

'I,  S.  Pepys,  in  this  and  oth'r  poems  [Now  to  my  Sams'n] 
hide  my  secret  frailties  [Now  to  Lycidas]  lest  my  wife,  poor 
fool,  should  know.' 

The  reader  will  see  from  these  examples  how  easily,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  existence  of  copyright,  any  author  might  repub- 
lish the  works  of  any  other,  introducing  a  cypher  into  them,  in 
which  he  claimed  them  as  his  own  composition,  and  deposited 
in  them  any  secrets  which  he  wished  both  to  record  and  hide. 
The  passages  taken  from  Milton  illustrate  certain  farther  points, 
r  The  bi-literal  cypher  of  Bacon  exists,  it  is  alleged,  in  the  first 
folio  of  Shakespeare,  in  those  parts  only  which  are  printed  in 
italics,  the  end  of  one  fragment  of  the  secret  writing  often 
breaking  off  in  the  middle  of  a  letter,  which  is  completed  at  the 
beginning  of  another  italic  passage  farther  on,  and  sometimes 

102 


in  another  play,;  and  parentheses  occur  like  those  in  our  imagined 
cypher  by  Pepys,  directing  the  decipherer  where  to  look  for  the 
continuations.  j, 

The  general  character,  then,  of  this  biliteral  cypher,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  alleged  to  have  been  inserted  in  one  edition 
of  the  Shakespearian  plays,  must  now  be  perfectly  clear  to  even 
the  most  careless  reader;  and  we  may  therefore  pass  on  to 
another  portion  of  our  subject;  for  the  claim  of  the  Baconian 
theorists  does  not  by  any  means  end  with  what  they  declare  they 
have  proved  with  regard  to  the  first  folio  of  Shakespeare.  They 
claim  that  the  same  cypher  has  been  introduced  by  Bacon  into 
early  or  first  editions  of  a  number  of  other  works,  some  bearing 
his  own  name,  and  admittedly  written  by  himself,  others  bearing 
the  name  of  well  known  persons,  his  contemporaries.  These 
include  his  own  Advancement  of  Learning,  1605,  his  Novum 
Organum,  1620,  and  his  History  of  Henry  VH.,  1622 ;  the  Com- 
plaints, 1 591,  and  the  Colin  Clout,  1595,  published  under  the 
name  of  Spenser,  and  the  edition  of  the  Faerie  Queen,  1596 ;  cer- 
tain editions  of  certain  plays  ascribed  to  the  four  dramatists, 
Peele,  Greene,  Marlowe,  and  Ben  Jonson ;  and  the  edition  pub- 
lished in  1628  of  The  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.  Some  of  these 
works,  in  spite  of  the  presence  of  the  cypher  in  them,  it  is  nor 
even  claimed  that  Bacon  wrote  himself.  For  example,  so  we  are 
told,  he  expressly  says  in  his  cypher  that  he  used  certam  plays  of 
Ben  Jonson,  with  Ben  Jonson's  own  permission,  as  a  vehicle  for 
his  secret  writing,  having  had,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  short 
masques,  no  part  in  the  composition  of  any  of  them.  Bacon  does 
claim,  however,  unless  his  cypher  is  altogether  an  illusion,  that 
of  many  of  the  works  into  which  the  cypher  was  printed,  he  was 
himself  the  actual  author — notably  The  Anatomy  of  Melan- 
choly, and  the  whole  of  the  plays  called  Shakespeare's.  On  this 
latter  point  he  insists  over  and  over  again,  declaring  that  he 
borrowed  Shakespeare's  name  as  a  pseudonym,  and  describing 
him  as  bejng  nothing  more  than  the  most  accomplished  actor  of 
his  time. 

I  say  this,  let  me  repeat,  on  the  supposition  that  the  cypher  is 
not  altogether  an  illusion.  Before  considering  whether  this  sup- 
position is  correct,  let  us  accept  it  for  the  moment  as  being  so, 
and  see  what  are  the  conclusions  which  it  forces  on  us.  Of  the 
four  hundred  and  fifty  pages  of  which  Mrs.  Gallup's  volume. 

103 


The  Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon,  consists,  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  are  occupied  with  what  purport  to  be  secret 
writings  of  Bacon's,  deciphered  letter  by  letter,  from  the  pas- 
sages printed  in  italics,  in  certain  specified  editions  of  certain 
works,  some  published  under  other  names,  some  admittedly  his 
own.  Of  these  three  hundred  and  fifty  pages  of  secret  writings, 
about  fifteen  have  been  extracted  from  Spenser,  Greene,  Peele, 
and  Marlowe,  and  twenty-three  from  Ben  Jonson;  about  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  from  writings  admittedly  his  own, 
such  as  the  Novum  Organum  and  The  New  Atlantis,  more  than 
ninety  from  Burton,  and  more  than  fifty  from  the  first  folio  of 
Shakespeare.  Much  more,  however,  it  is  averred,  remains  to  be 
deciphered  still. 

And  now  let  us  ask  what,  continuing  to  suppose  them 
genuine,  these  secret  writings  contain,  and  why  the  authoi 
wrote  them  in  such  a  way.  Described  generally,  they  are  a 
species  of  diary,  comparable  to  that  of  Pepys,  also  written  in 
cypher — a  diary  to  which  the  author  confides  thoughts  and 
hopes  and  feelings  too  intimate  to  be  revealed  to  contemporaries, 
and  secrets  the  mere  hinting  of  which  would  have  placed  his  life 
in  danger.  Of  these  it  is  enough  for  our  present  purpose  to 
mention  a  few. 

Bacon  declares  in  his  cypher  over  and  over  again  that  he  was 
not  what  he  appeared  to  be.  He  was  not,  as  the  world  supposed. 
the  son  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  but  the  son  of  the  Queen  of 
England  by  a  private  marriage  with  Leicester — her  eldest  son 
and  rightful  heir  to  the  throne.  He  was  ignorant  of  the  fact  till 
he  reached  his  sixteenth  year,  when  he  heard  the  story  hinted  by 
one  of  the  ladies  of  the  Court.  The  Queen,  in  a  fit  of  anger, 
admitted  to  him  that  it  was  true,  the  marriage  having  taken 
place  secretly  in  the  Tower  of  London,  when  the  Queen,  before 
her  accession,  and  Leicester  were  both  confined  there.  For 
political  reasons  it  was  necessary  to  keep  this  a  profound  secret, 
and  the  child  was  confided  to  Anne  and  Nicholas  Bacon,  to  be 
brought  up  as  their  own  and  educated  as  a  private  person,  the 
Queen  being  determined  never,  under  any  circumstances,  to 
acknowledge  him.  To  reveal  the  truth  himself  would,  he 
believed,  be  to  forfeit  his  life;  and  hence,  smarting  under  an 
obstinate  sense  of  wrong,  he  confided  his  history  to  the  keeping 
of  elaborate  cyphers,  trusting  that  future  students  would  unravel 

104 


them  for  a  future  age.  The  moment  the  Queen  found  that  the 
boy  had  discovered  his  parentage  he  was  sent  to  France  under 
the  care  of  Sir  Amyas  Paulet,  and  did  not  come  back  to  England 
till  the  death  of  his  foster-father.  When  in  France  he  conceived 
an  absorbing  and  romantic  passion  for  Marguerite,  wife  of 
Henry  of  Navarre,  who  returned  or  pretended  to  return  it. 
Expectations  were  rife  at  the  time  that  she  and  her  husband  were 
to  be  divorced ;  and  Sir  Amyas  Paulet  attempted  to  arrange  with 
Queen  Elizabeth  that,  should  the  divorce  take  place,  Marguerite 
and  Bacon  should  be  married.  The  divorce,  however,  was  not 
obtained,  nor  would  Queen  Elizabeth  listen  to  the  proposal. 
This  early  romance  made  a  profound  impression  on  Bacon,  and 
he  wrote,  long  afterwards,  Romeo  and  Juliet  in  commemoration 
of  it. 

Another  part  of  the  story  which  he  tells  is  this.  He  was  not, 
he  says,  the  Queen's  only  child  by  Leicester.  He  had  a  brother, 
and  this  brother  was  Essex ;  and  of  all  the  incidents  of  his  life 
with  regard  to  which  he  is  most  anxious  to  set  forth  the  truth  and 
with  regard  to  which  he  fears  that  his  memory  is  most  likely  to 
be  wronged,  those  connected  with  his  conduct  towards  his  unfor- 
tunate brother  stand  foremost. 

That  he  does  not  venture  openly  to  give  even  a  hint  of  the 
truth  with  regard  to  this  matter,  or  his  parentage  and  rightful 
position,  he  declares  with  an  almost  wearisome  and  not  very 
dignified  persistence;  and  he  is,  he  says,  driven  to  hide  himself 
in  tortuous  cyphers,  which  will  keep  him  safe  as  a  coney  hiding 
in  a  valley  of  rocks. 

On  the  contents  of  the  biliteral  cypher,  considered  under 
their  more  general  aspect,  we  need  not  dwell  longer.  Enough 
has  been  said  to  show  that,  if  it  be  a  genuine  document,  the 
author  had  intelligible  reasons  for  embodying  it  in  this  singular 
form.  What  mainly  concerns  us  here  is  its  purely  literary  sig- 
nificance, especially  as  regards  the  authorship  of  the  so-called 
plays  of  Shakespeare.  The  mere  fact  that  this  biliteral  Baconian 
cypher  is  incorporated  in  the  first  collected  edition  of  these  plays 
does  not  in  itself  prove,  as  we  have  seen  already,  that  Bacon  was 
the  author  of  King  John  and  Romeo  and  Juliet,  any  more  than 
it  proves  that  he  was  the  author  of  The  Fox,  which,  though  the 
same  cypher  occurs  in  it,  is  admitted  to  be  Ben  Jonson's.  The 
only  evidence  as  to  this  point  with  which  the  biliteral  cypher 

105 


supplies  us  consists  not  in  its  existence  in  an  edition  of  Shake- 
speare's plays,  but  solely  in  the  assertions  which  it  contains  that 
Bacon  did  actually  write  them,  coupled  with  further  statements 
relating  to  other  cyphers — the  word-cypher  more  particularly, 
also  alleged  to  be  contained  in  them.  So  far  as  concerns  the 
biliteral  cypher  itself,  the  mere  assertions  as  to  authorship  which 
Bacon  makes  by  means  of  it  have  as  much  or  as  little  value  as 
they  would  have  had  had  he  made  them  openly.  Their  value 
depends  on  the  value  we  are  inclined  to  attach  to  his  word, 
coupled  with  the  probabilities  of  the  case  as  estimated  by  the 

-  critic  and  the  historian.  The  word-cypher,  however,  stands  on 
a  different  footing.  It  depends  on  the  text  itself,  not  on  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  text  is  printed ;  and  the  author  of  this  cypher 
must  necessarily  have  been  the  author  of  the  plays.  Now  the 
biliteral  cypher  contains,  if  it  really  be  a  genuine  document, 
elaborate  instructions  as  to  the  word-cypher,  and  directions  as  to 
the  method  of  unravelling  it.  That  such  instructions  should  be 
given  if  the  word-cypher  is  a  mere  illusion,  we  need  hardly  say 
is  incredible.  Hence,  according  to  all  rules  of  common  sense, 
our  belief  in  the  former  carries  with  it  a  belief  in  the  latter ;  and 
a  belief  in  the  latter — the  word-cypher — also  carries  with  it  the 
further  belief  that  Bacon  actually  was  the  author  of  the  Shake- 

i^spearian  plays. 

Whether  such  be  the  case  or  no,  it  is  not  my  purpose  to 
inquire.  All  that  at  this  moment  I  am  anxious  to  impress  upon 
the  reader  is  the  fact  that,  in  taking  their  stand  on  this  new 
alleged  discovery — this  discovery  of  a  cypher  heretofore  not 
dreamed  of — a  typographical  cypher  depending  on  the  use  of 
two  printer's  alphabets,  nearly  alike  but  yet  ascertainably  dif- 
ferent, the  Baconians  have  shifted  this  controversy  to  wholly 
novel  ground.  The  word-cypher  is  a  cypher  which,  even  those 
who  believe  in  it  admit,  requires  for  its  interpretation  a  certain 
amount  of  conjecture;  but  the  biliteral  cypher,  if  it  exists  at  all. 
can  be  proved  to  exist,  or,  in  the  opposite  case,  it  can  be  proved 
to  be  a  mere  hallucination,  by  the  aid  of  a  magnify ing-glass 
applied  to  certain  printed  pages.  There  is  no  occasion  here  for 
any  abstruse  literary  reasoning.  There  is  no  occasion  for  any 
literary  reasoning  at  all.  Either  certain  editions  of  the  various 
books  in  question — the  first  folio  of  Shakespeare  being  the  most 
important  and  the  most  famous  of  them — are,  in  so  far  as  the 

106 


italicised  portions  of  them  are  concerned,  systematically  printed 
in  letters  from  two  different  founts  of  type,  or  they  are  not.  If, 
as  is  absolutely  indisputable,  two  different  founts  are  used,  the 
letters  from  these  founts  are  used  in  such  a  manner  that,  when 
separated  into  groups  of  five,  and  expressed  as  dots  and  dashes, 
each  of  these  groups  will  denote  a  single  letter,  in  accordance 
with  the  code  set  forth  by  Bacon  himself ;  or  else  they  will  not  do 
this,  or  will  do  so  only  by  accident,  most  of  the  groups  having  no 
meaning  whatsoever.  And  lastly,  if  these  groups  do  assume  a 
consecutive  meaning,  and  actually  give  us  a  series  of  single  let- 
ters, the  letters  will  form  words  and  intelligible  sentences,  or 
they  will  not.  The  whole  case  is  one  for  simple  ocular  demon- 
stration. 

To  make  this  demonstration  conclusive  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world  generally  would,  no  doubt,  demand  some  time  and  labour. 
The  question  is,  are  there  sufficient  prima  facie  grounds  for  sup- 
posing that  possibly  the  Baconian  theory  is  true,  to  make  it 
worth  while  for  sceptics  to  undertake  the  inquiry  ?  For  my  own 
part,  unhesitatingly  I  venture  to  say  that  there  are.  In  the  first 
place,  this  cypher,  as  no  one  can  deny,  was  familiar  to  Bacon, 
who  claims  to  have  himself  invented  it.  He  has  himself  admit- 
tedly supplied  us  with  our  specimen  page  of  it,  a  passage  from 
Cicero,  reproduced  by  Mrs.  Gallup  in  photographic  facsimile, 
together  with  a  companion  page,  in  which  Bacon  has  placed  side 
by  side  the  two  alphabets  employed,  so  that  the  differences 
between  their  respective  letters  may  be  more  easily  realised. 
Thus  the  biliteral  cypher  exists  in  one  page  of  Bacon's  works  at 
all  events.  There  is  nothing,  therefore,  fantastic  in  the  idea 
that  it  may  exist  elsewhere.  The  only  possibility  of  any  doubt 
with  regard  to  the  question  is  due  altogether  to  a  purely  physical 
circumstance.  The  types  employed  in  printing  the  specimen 
passage  from  Cicero  were  designedly  made  of  such  a  size,  and 
the  differences  between  the  two  alphabets  were  accentuated  in 
such  a  manner,  that  the  ordinary  eye  could  readily  learn  to  dis- 
tinguish the  letters  that  stand  for  dashes  from,  those  that  stand 
for  dots.  Even  here,  however,  the  differences  are  for  the  most 
part  so  small  and  delicate  that,  in  order  to  perceive  them,  we 
must  scrutinise  the  page  attentively ;  and  an  hour  of  such  atten- 
tion may  elapse  before  we  cease  to  be  puzzled.  But  in  the  first 
folio  of  Shakespeare,  as  in  most  of  the  other  volumes  in  which  it 

107 


is  contended  that  the  same  type  occurs,  the  type  is  much  smaller. 
Although  even  the  naked  eye  can  be  soon  trained  to  perceive 
that  in  many  cases  the  letters  belong  to  different  founts,  yet  these 
differences  are  of  so  minute  a  kind  that  in  other  cases  they  elude 
the  eye  without  the  aid  of  a  magnifying-glass ;  and  even  with  the 
aid  of  a  magnifying-glass — I  say  this  from  experience — the  eye 
of  the  amateur,  at  all  events,  remains  doubtful,  and  unable  to 
assign  the  letters  to  this  alphabet  or  to  that.  The  majority  of  edu  • 
cated  persons,  therefore,  in  the  present  state  of  the  controversy, 
if  they  give  to  the  italicised  passages  of  the  first  Shakespearian 
folio  and  the  other  books  in  question  only  so  much  time  and 
attention  as  may  be  expected  from  interested  amateurs,  may 
reasonably,  if  not  rightly,  entertain  the  opinion  that  the  larger 
part  of  the  differences  alleged  to  exist  between  the  italic  letters 
employed  are  entirely  imaginary,  since  their  eyes  are  unable  to 
detect  them ;  that  the  supposed  cypher  is  altogether  a  delusion, 
and  has  been  read  into  the  texts,  not  out  of  them,  by  Mrs.  Gal- 
lup and  her  coadjutors. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  that  the  amateur  finds  himself, 
after  weeks  of  study,  still  completely  bewildered  in  his  attempt 
to  allocate  the  various  letters  to  two  different  founts  of  type,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  elicit  a  sentence  or  even  a  word  in  groups  of 
dots  and  dashes,  according  to  the  Baconian  code,  must  not  be 
taken  too  hastily  as  a  proof  that  the  alleged  cypher  is  imagin- 
ary. Mrs.  Gallup  has  done  much,  though  not  so  much  as  she 
might  have  done,  to  enable  her  readers  to  settle  this  point  for 
themselves.  She  has  reproduced  in  facsimile  from  the  original 
editions  Bacon's  preface  to  the  Novum  Organum,  1620;  and  the 
Epistle  Dedicatory  of  the  so-called  Spenser's  Complaints,  1591, 
in  both  of  which  it  is  contended  that  the  Baconian  cypher  occurs. 
She  gives  similar  facsimiles  also  of  the  Epistle  Dedicatory,  and 
the  Commendatory  Verses  prefixed  to  the  first  folio  of  Shake- 
speare. She  gives  also  an  enlarged  diagram  of  the  different 
forms  of  italics  used  by  Bacon  in  the  printing  of  the  Novum 
Organum;  and  of  his  preface  to  that  work,  and  of  the  Epistle 
Dedicatory  of  Spenser's  Complaints,  she  gives  the  cypher  mean- 
ing extracted  letter  by  letter,  each  italic  being  thus  allocated  to 
its  own  alleged  fount.    Is  this  allocation  merely  fanciful  or  not? 

I  have  studied  for  some  weeks  Mrs.  Gallup's  facsimilies  my- 
self, and  I  give  my  experience,  purely  as  that  of  an  amateur. 

108 


for  what  it  is  worth.  When  I  examined  the  facsimiles  first  I 
could  make  nothing  out  of  them ;  and  of  those  from  the  first  folio 
I  can  make  very  little  still.  All  the  letters  seemed  too  much 
alike  to  allow  of  my  separating-  them  systematically  into  two 
founts  of  type.  Differences  which  I  thought  I  had  discovered 
at  one  moment  altogether  vanished  the  next,  and  gave  place  to 
others,  which  soon,  in  their  turn,  escaped  me.  But  with  regard 
to  the  facsimiles  from  the  Novum  Organum  and  Spenser's  Com- 
plaints the  case  was  otherwise,  and  for  a  very  simple  reason.  In 
the  facsimiles  from  the  folio  the  type  is  extremely  small,  the 
original  page  having  been  reduced  so  as  to  accommodate  it  to  an 
octavo  volume.  But  in  the  Bacon  and  Spenser  facsimiles  the 
type  is  of  the  size  of  the  original.  It  is  comparatively  large,  and 
a  study  of  it  is  proportionately  easier.  In  these  pages  I  was  very 
soon  able  to  distmguish  the  different  founts  to  which  several  of 
the  letters  belong.  I  could  presently  do  the  same  with  regard 
to  several  letters  more ;  and  at  last  I  was  more  or  less  master  of 
two-thirds  of  the  alphabet  in  such  a  way  that  I  was  able,  with 
some  confidence,  to  translate  them,  when  in  one  form  into  a  dot. 
and  when  in  another  form  into  a  dash.  I  have  tried  this  experi- 
ment with  a  large  number  of  passages,  and,  comparing  my  inter- 
pretations with  that  of  Mrs.  Gallup  herself,  I  have  found  that  it 
coincides  with  hers,  sometimes  in  four  cases  out  of  seven,  and 
not  infrequently  in  five.  Many  of  the  letters  still  continued  to 
baffie  me ;  but  with  regard  to  some  I  found  myself  always  right ; 
and  the  dots  or  dashes  into  which  I  had  resolved  these  have 
invariably  coincided  with  the  requirements  of  the  cypher,  as 
Mrs.  Gallup  interprets  it.  It  appears  to  me  to  be  almost  incon- 
ceivable that  multiplied  coincidences  such  as  these  can  be  the 
work  of  chance,  or  that  they  can  originate  otherwise  than  in  the 
fact  that  in  these  pages  at  all  events — the  preface  to  the  Novum 
Organum,  printed  in  1620,  and  in  the  Dedication  of  Spenser's 
Complaints,  printed  in  1591 — a  biliteral  cypher  exists,  in  both 
cases  the  work  of  Bacon;  and  if  such  a  cypher  really  exists 
here,  the  probabilities  are  overvvh.clming  that  Mrs.  Gallup  is 
right,  and  that  we  shall  find  it  existing  in  the  first  folio  of 
Shakespeare  also. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  Mrs.  Gallup,  whilst  giving  us  the  fac- 
similes already  mentioned,  has  not  given  us  any  from  the  Shake- 
spearian plays  themselves,  together  with  specimens  of  the  cypher 

109 


in  them,  interpreted  letter  by  letter.  I  doubt,  however,  if  such 
facsimiles  would  be  conclusive  if  the  page  of  the  original  folio 
were  reduced  to  the  size  of  an  octavo.  The  process  which  ought 
to  be  adopted  is  one  entirely  the  reverse  of  this.  Passages  from 
the  first  folio  should  be  given  not  in  a  reduced  but  in  an  en- 
larged facsimile,  so  that  the  letters  should,  if  possible,  be  some- 
thing like  half  an  inch  high.  Copies,  moreover,  of  the  letters, 
in  all  the  forms  in  which  they  occur,  should  be  arranged  side  by 
side  in  alphabets,  according  to  the  founts  to  which  they  belong ; 
and  a  very  few  passages,  if  enlarged  and  illustrated  thus,  would 
be  sufficient  to  show  whether  the  admitted  peculiarities  of  the 
type  are  merely  accidental,  as  has  vaguely  been  assumed  hitherto, 
or  are  really  the  vehicle  of  an  elaborately  arranged  cypher. 

In  order  to  show  the  reader  that  Bacon's  biliteral  cypher  can 
easily  be  printed  in  such  a  way  that  the  inexperienced  eye  would 
wholly  fail  to  detect  it,  and  the  uninstructed  critic  would  reject 
its  existence  as  a  myth,  I  subjoin  a  passage  taken  from  Bacon's 
own  chapter  on  cyphers  : 

Neither  is  it  a  small  thing  these  cypher  characters  have,  and  may  'per/orme. 
For  by  this  Art  a  way  is  opened  whereby  a  man  may  expre.sse  and  signifie 
the  ititentions  o/his  minde  at  any  distance  of  place,  by  objects  which  may  be 
presented  to  his  eye  ande  accommodated  to  the  ea re  provided  those  objects  be 
capable  of  a  twofold  difference  only,  as  by  bells,  by  trumpets,  by  lights,  by 
torches,  by  the  report  of  nmskets,  and  by  any  instruments  of  like  nature.  But 
to  pursue  our  enterprise  when  .... 

Into  this  passage  I  have  printed  the  following  lines  in 
cypher  : 

The  star  of  Shakespeare  pales ;   but,  brighter  far, 
Burns,  through  the  dusk  he  leaves,  an  ampler  star. 

Founts  of  italic  type  might  be  found  the  differences  between 
which  would  be  much  more  minute  than  those  existing  between 
the  two  used  here,  but  which  would  yet  be  visible  to  the  trained 
eye  of  a  printer's  reader,  and  by  means  of  which  a  cypher  might 
be  printed  quite  legible  to  the  expert,  but  undistinguishable  for 
all  the  world  besides.  If,  therefore,  a  biliteral  Bacon's  cypher 
does  really  exist  in  the  first  folio  of  Shakespeare,  we  must  be  pre- 
pared to  find  that  the  unravelling  of  it  is  a  matter  of  considerable 
difficulty,  and  that  the  ocular  evidences  of  its  existence  are  a  long 
time  in  becoming  plain  to  us. 

110 


I  must  now  draw  attention  to  another  aspect  of  the  question. 
If  the  cypher  does  not  really  exist,  the  entire  matter,  amounting 
to  between  three  and  four  hundred  pages,  which  Mrs.  Gallup 
professes  to  have  deciphered,  is  an  elaborate  literary  forgery. 
I  recommend  the  reader  to  study  these  pages,  and  ask  if  their 
character  is  such  as  to  suggest  this  conclusion.  I  can  here  quote 
one  passage  only,  which  is  alleged  to  have  been  printed,  not 
into  the  Shakespearian  folio,  but  into  the  A^^t'  Atlantis.  It 
refers  to  the  writer's  supposed  early  love  affair.  If  it  be  a  for- 
ger}', it  is  one  of  extraordinary  ingenuity;  so  full  does  it  seem 
to  me  of  pathetic  and  dignified  beauty,  and  so  strongly  does  it 
bear  the  marks  of  genuine  and  acute  sincerity. 

Th'  fame  of  th'  gay  French  Court  had  come  to  me  even  then,  and  it  was 
flattering  to  th'  youthfull  and  most  natural]  love  o'  th'  affaires  taking  us  from 
my  native  land,  insomuch  as  th'  secret  commission  had  been  entrusted  to  me, 
which  required  most  true  wisdome  for  safer,  speedier  conduct  then  'twould 
have  if  left  to  th'  common  course  of  businesse.  Soe  with  much  interessed, 
though  sometimes  apprehensive  minde,  I  made  myself  ready  to  accompany 
Sir  Amyias  to  that  sunny  land  o'  th'  South  I  learned  so  supremely  to  love, 
that  afterwards  I  would  have  left  England  and  every  hope  of  advancement, 
to  remain  my  whole  life  there.  Nor  yet  could  this  be  doe  to  th'  delight  of 
th'  country  by  itselfe ;  for  love  o'  sweete  Marguerite,  th'  beautifull  young 
sister  o'  th'  king  (married  to  gallant  Henry  th'  King  o'  Navarre)  did  make 
it  Eden  to  my  innocent  heart ;  and  even  when  I  learned  her  perfidie,  love  did 
keepe  her  like  th'  angels  in  my  thoughts  half  o'  th'  time — as  to  th'  other 
half  she  was  devilish,  and  I  myselfe  was  plung'd  into  hell.  This  lasted 
duri'g  many  yeares,  and,  not  until  four  decades  or  eight  lustres  o'  my  life 
were  outliv'd,  did  I  take  any  other  to  my  sore  heart.  Then  I  married  th' 
woman  who  hath  put  Marguerite  from  my  memorie — rather  I  should  say 
hath  banished  her  portrait  to  th'  walles  of  memorie  only,  where  it  doth  hang 
in  th'  pure  undimmed  beauty  of  those  early  dayes. 

W.  H.  Mai^lock. 


Ill 


THE  NEW  SHAKESPEARE-BACOi^  CONTROVERSY. 

By  Gaekett  p.  Sekviss. 

The  Cosmopolitan,  New  Yoex,  March,  1902. 

That  smoldering  question  which  nothing  seems  able  to 
extinguish,  ''Did  Shakespeare  write  the  Shakespeare  plays  ?" 
and  the  related  question,  "Is  there  a  cipher  hidden  in  those 
plays,  which  not  only  reveals  their  real  authorship  but  betrays 
important  state  secrets  of  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ?"  have 
just  been  brought  before  the  public  mind  in  a  new  and  start- 
ling aspect. 

And  this  time  the  problem  is  presented  in  a  form  which 
renders  it  capable  of  being  submitted  to  something  like  a  scien- 
tific test.  It  is,  in  fact,  put  upon  a  mechanical  basis,  so  that 
it  becomes  a  mere  question  of  distinguishing  between  different 
shapes  of  printers'  types. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Gallup,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  avers 
that  while  engaged  in  an  examination  of  old  editions  of  the 
works  of  Francis  Bacon,  trying  to  trace  there  a  "Cipher  Story," 
the  key  to  Avhich  was  discovered  by  Dr.  O.  W.  Owen,  to  whom 
she  was  acting  as  an  assistant,  she  became  convinced  that  the 
careful  explanation  which  Bacon  has  given  in  his  celebrated 
work,  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum,  of  a  species  of  secret  writ- 
ing, invented  by  him,  and  which  he  calls  a  "Bi-literal  Cipher," 
was  intended  to  serve  some  other  purpose  besides  that  of  a 
mere  treatise  on  the  subject. 

This  Cipher  is  based  upon  the  use  of  two  slightly  different 
fonts  of  type  and,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  has  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  literary  form  or  sense  of  the  books  in  which 
it  is  alleged  to  be  concealed. 

Remembering  those  puzzling  italicized  passages  that  occur 
in  the  First  Folio  edition  of  Shakespeare's  Plays,  published  in 
1623,  and  for  which  no  satisfactory  explanation  has  ever  been 

112 


offered,  Mrs,  Gallup  immediately  examined  them  to  see  if, 
perchance,  the  bi-literal  cipher  described  by  Bacon  might  not 
be  found  in  them.  Apparently  she  was  not  confident  of  suc- 
cess, but,  to  her  great  surprise,  as  she  affirms,  the  cipher  was 
there ! 

She  began  to  read  it  out,  and  if  the  story  of  what  she  says 
she  found  is  true,  nobody  can  wonder  that  she  felt  she  had 
made  the  literary  discovery  of  the  age. 

Let  us  say  at  once  that  it  is  not  only  in  the  Shakespeare 
Plays  that  the  alleged  cipher  is  hidden,  but  it  appears  also  in 
the  works  that  were  published  under  Bacon's  own  name,  being 
confined,  as  in  the  plays,  to  the  italicized  portions — italicized 
for  no  discoverable  reason — and  also,  surprising  to  relate,  in 
a  variety  of  other  books  of  the  Elizabethan  period,  such  as 
Spenser's  Shepherd's  Calendar  and  Faerie  Queene,  Burton's 
Anatomy  oi  Melancholy,  the  plays  of  Peele,  Greene  and 
Marlowe,  and  even  some  parts  of  the  plays  of  Ben  Jonson. 

Through  all  of  these  works,  according  to  Mrs.  Gallup, 
who  has  just  filled  a  large  octavo  volume  with  her  asserted 
revelations,  runs  a  story,  composed  by  Francis  Bacon,  and 
repeated  over  and  over  again,  in  varying,  but  never  contra- 
dictory, forms,  in  which  he  affirms  that  he  was  the  son  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  by  Robert  Dudley,  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  to 
whom  she  was  secretly  married  in  the  Tower  of  London  when 
before  her  accession  to  the  throne,  both  she  and  the  Earl  were 
imprisoned  there;  that,  in  order  to  keep  his  birth  secret,  he 
was  given,  while  a  child,  to  Sir  I^icholas  Bacon  and  his  wife 
Anne,  who  brought  him  up  as  if  he  were  their  own  son;  that 
he  did  not  discover  the  truth  about  his  birth  until  he  was  six- 
teen years  old,  when  an  intimation  of  it  reached  his  ears 
through  the  indiscretion  of  a  lady  of  the  court,  and  then  his 
mother,  the  Queen,  in  a  fit  of  passion,  confessed  the  truth  to 
him,  and  immediately  afterward  sent  him  away  to  France  in 
charge  of  Sir  Amyas  Paulet ;  and  that  while  he  was  in  southern 
France  he  fell  in  love  with  Marguerite,  the  beautiful  wife  of 
King  Henry  of  Navarre,  and  the  play  of  Romeo  and  Juliet 
was  afterward  based  upon  this  romantic  episode  in  bis  life. 
In  other  parts  of  the  story  Bacon  is  represented  as  affirming 
that  Queen  Elizabeth  had  another  son  from  her  secret  union 

113 


with  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  this  being  no  less  a  person  than  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  who  was  afterward  executed  for  high  treason 
by  his  mother's  command.  Essex  was  thus,  according  to  the 
story.  Bacon's  younger  brother,  and,  in  the  Cipher,  Bacon 
appears  as  constantly  lamenting  the  share  which  he  unwill- 
ingly had  in  the  tragic  fate  of  his  brother. 

This  story,  whether  it  truly  exists  in  the  alleged  Cipher 
or  is  the  product  of  imagination,  cannot  fail  to  hold  the 
reader's  attention,  but  before  pursuing  it  farther  let  us  see 
what  the  Bi-literal  Cipher  is. 

In  his  work,  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum,  Bacon  first 
shows  that  a  cipher  alphabet  can  be  formed  by  various  trans- 
positions of  the  two  leading  letters  of  the  ordinary  alphabet, 
a  and  h,  in  sets  of  five,  each  set  representing  one  letter  of  the 
Cipher,  thus: 

Such  an  alphabet  in  itself  would  be  of  no  use  for  secret 
writing.  Eor  instance,  let  us  print  the  word  "Bacon"  in  it. 
It  would  run:  aaaab,  aaaaa,  aaaba,  abbab,  abbaa.  If  a  series 
of  sentences  were  written,  or  printed,  in  that  manner  it  is 
evident  that  the  merest  tyro  w^ould  quickly  discover  the  key 
and  decipher  the  message. 

Bacon's  next  step,  then,  is  to  contrive  a  way  in  wdiich  the 
alphabet  above  described  can  be  "infolded"  in  a  printed  book 
so  that  each  set  of  five  successive  letters  composing  the  words 
of  the  book,  without  changing  their  order  and  without  refer- 
ence to  the  meaning  that  the}^  convey  to  the  ordinary  reader, 
shall  represent  one  of  the  letters  of  the  hidden  Cipher.  For 
this  purpose  it  is  necessary  to  employ  two  fonts  of  type,  in 
which  the  forms  of  the  letters  slightly  differ.  Call  one  the 
"a  font"  and  the  other  the  "b  font ;"  then  every  letter  in  the 
"a  font"  will  stand  for  "a"  in  making  up  the  sets  of  fivr| 
a's  and  b's  that  compose  the  letters  of  the  cipher  alphabet,  and 
similarly  every  letter  of  the  b-font  will  stand  for  "b." 


Note:  An  extcn'^cd  illustration  of  the  working  out  of  the  cipher  is 
omitted  here,  the  manner  of  it  being  fully  illustrated  in  two  other 
parts  of  tJie  volume. 

114 


Thus,  by  simply  printing  three  sentences,  containing  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  letters  in  two  kinds  of  type,  another 
entirely  different  sentence,  containing  only  twenty-five  letters, 
is  inclosed  in  them,  and  can  be  read  only  by  one  who  holds 
the  clue  to  the  double  system  of  types,  which  Bacon  calls  a 
Bi- literal  Cipher.  It  is  not  necessary  in  any  manner  to  inter- 
fere with  the  order  of  the  words  in  the  original  work,  and  any 
book  in  existence  could  be  made  to  hold  a  cipher  of  this  kind. 
The  only  restriction  upon  the  proceedings  of  the  person  who 
inserts  the  cipher  is  imposed  by  the  necessity  of  using  up 
five  letters  of  the  original  for  every  one  letter  of  his  inclosed 
cipher. 

In  Bacon's  alleged  use  of  the  Cipher  he  is  said  to  have 
included  it  only  in  the  italicized  portions  of  the  books  wherein 
it  is  found,  using  two  fonts  of  Italic  letters. 

N'ow,  even  if  the  existence  of  such  a  Cipher  in  the  Folio 
Edition  of  Shakespeare's  Plays,  whose  typographical  eccen- 
tricities have  long  been  a  puzzle,  can  be  established,  that  fact 
would  not  in  itself  affect  the  question  of  the  authorship  of 
the  Plays.  Being  simply  a  matter  of  the  types  employed,  any 
printer,  if  he  had  the  opportunity — not  to  speak  of  a  suffi- 
cient motive — could  have  inserted  the  story  which  Mrs.  Gallup 
professes  to  have  extracted. 

Of  course  Bacon  himself  could  thus  have  inserted  it  with- 
out having  had  anything  to  do  with  the  original  composition 
of  the  Plays.  In  fact,  however,  he  claims  in  the  alleged  Cipher 
Story  that  he  was  the  real  author  of  those  immortal  composi- 
tions, as  well  as  of  other  books,  such  as  Spenser's  Faerie 
Queene  and  Marlowe's  plays. 

But  the  reader  is  likely  to  say:  "This  is  so  simple  a 
matter  that  it  should  have  been  cleared  up  long  ago.  If  there 
are  two  kinds  of  type  used  in  the  Folio  Edition  of  Shake- 
speare's Plays,  and  if  all  the  italicized  portions  are  printed 
in  that  manner,  and  filled  with  a  secret  story,  it  ought  to  be 
the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  establish  the  fact  by  simple 
examination."  So  it  would  be  if  the  fonts  of  type  alleged  to 
have  been  employed  by  Bacon  were  as  clearly  distinguished 
from  one  another  as  are  those  which  he  used  in  illustratins 
the  principle  of  the  Bi-literal  Cipher  in  his  De  Augmentis,  or 


115 


those  which  we  have  selected  for  a  similar  purpose.  But,  in 
fact,  there  is  no  such  clear  distinction.  It  may  indeed  be  said 
that  Bacon  would  have  defeated  his  own  end  by  making  the 
differences  of  type  manifest  at  the  first  glance.  He  had  to 
choose  letters  which  should  be  so  nearly  alike  that  they  would 
pass  under  the  ordinary  reader's  eyes  without  exciting  suspi- 
cion, and  yet  should  be  sufficiently  varied  to  be  distinguished 
without  too  great  difficulty  when  at  last  the  key  was  discovered 
and  the  deciphering  begun. 

iSTot  only  are  the  differences  admitted  by  Mrs.  Gallup, 
especially  in  the  case  of  the  small  characters,  to  be  so  slight 
that  very  close  examination  is  required  to  preceive  them,  but 
she  avers  that  Bacon  was  not  satisfied  with  using  only  two 
fonts;  he  employed  many  different  fonts,  and  sometimes 
changed  the  order  of  their  distribution  among  the  "A's"  and 
"B's,"  apparently  for  the  purpose  of  more  surely  concealing 
his  cipher,  for  he  is  represented  as  saying  that  his  life  would 
be  in  danger  if  the  fact  became  known  that  he  was  using  this 
method  of  handing  down  to  posterity  secrets  concerning  the 
highest  personages  in  the  State  which  the  few  who  were  ac- 
quainted with  them  dared  not  whisper  above  their  breath. 

As  Mr.  Mallock  has  suggested,  the  thing  to  do  is  not  to 
photograph  the  pages  said  to  contain  the  cipher  down  to  the 
dimensions  of  an  octavo,  as  has  been  done,  but  to  magnify 
them,  in  order  that  the  typographical  variations  may  be  made 
more  evident.  By  adopting  that  plan  it  may  be  possible  to 
submit  the  whole  question  to  a  decisive  test.  At  any  rate,  it 
is  a  question  that  can  be  tested  by  a  mechanical  examination, 
and  there  certainly  seems  to  be  no  occasion  for  the  display  of 
heat  and  bad  temper  that  has  been  called  forth  in  some  quarters 
by  the  discussion.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  full  of  interest,  which- 
ever way  it  may  be  decided. 

Beturning  to  the  revelations  which  Mrs.  Gallup  assures 
us  have  been  extracted  from  the  books  named  with  the  aid  of 
the  Bi-literal  Cipher,  we  come  upon  another  point  more  sur- 
prising still.  The  Bi-literal  Cipher  is  believed  by  her  to  have 
been  intended  as  a  key  to  other,  more  difficult,  forms  of  cipher 
embedded  by  Bacon  in  his  various  works.  The  most  im- 
portant of  these  is  described  as  a  "word-cipher,"  the  transla- 
tion of  which  does  not  depend  upon  the  use  of  any  special 

116 


type,  but  is  to  be  effected  by  means  of  certain  key-words  and 
directions  given  in  the  Bi-literal  Cipher.  This  Word-Cipher, 
if  it  exists,  could  not  have  been  inserted  in  a  work  originally 
composed  without  reference  to  it,  but  could  only  be  worked 
into  the  web  and  woof  of  the  composition  by  the  original 
author,  and  to  assert,  as  the  story  does,  that  Bacon  was  able 
to  compose  the  finest  plays  that  we  know  under  the  name  of 
Shakespeare  merely  as  cloaks  for  other  hidden  plays  and  nar- 
ratives is  indeed  to  tax  credulity  to  its  limit. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  "word-cipher"  does  not 
admit  of  any  such  mechanical  test  as  can  be  applied  to  the 
Bi-literal  Cipher,  but  is  a  subject  for  choice,  judgment  and 
ingenuity  in  interpretation,  so  that,  to  anybody  not  predis- 
posed to  accept  it,  it  can  never  appeal  with  convincing  force, 
as  the  Bi-literal  would  do  if  once  the  typographical  differences 
on  which  it  is  based  could  be  completely  established.  Let  the 
Bi-literal  Cipher's  presence  be  demonstrated  beyond  a  perad- 
venture,  and  then  the  word-cipher  would  stand  a  better  chance 
of  acceptance,  because  the  other  asserts  its  existence.  The 
word-cipher  compels  those  who  accept  it  to  believe  that  the 
person,  who  put  the  ciphers  in  Shakespeare's  plays  and  Bacon's 
learned  treatises  and  the  poems  and  dramatic  compositions  of 
Marlowe,  Spenser,  Peele  and  Greene  and  the  Anatomy  of 
Melancholy  called  Burton's,  actually  produced  all  of  those 
works. 

Using  the  Word-Cipher,  and  following  the  clues  accorded 
by  the  Bi-literal,  Mrs.  Gallup  has  recently  deciphered,  as  she 
avers,  one  of  the  concealed  tragedies  of  Bacon.  It  is  called 
The  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  is  made  up  of  bits  from 
many  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  matched  together.  For  in- 
stance, we  find  Eomeo's  words  put  into  the  mouth  of  King 
Henry  VIII,  and  applied  by  him  to  Anne  Boleyn: 

"O  she  doth  teach  the  torches  to  burn  bright! 
It  seems  she  hangs  upon  the  cheek  of  night 
As  a   rich  jewel   in  an  Ethiop's   ear; 
Beauty  too  rich  for  use,  for  earth  too  dear!" 

All  this  is  well  calculated  to  repel  dispassionate  investi- 
gation of  Mrs.  Gallup's  claims  because  it  so  far  offends  the 
common  sense  and  judgment  of  the  reader  tliat  ho  must  bo 

117 


tempted  to  throw  the  whole  thing  overboard  at  once.  If  the 
alleged  discovery  can  ever  be  rendered  acceptable  to  unpreju- 
diced investigation,  it  must  be  on  the  basis  of  the  Bi-literal 
Cipher  alone.  Let  Mrs.  Gallup  successfully  meet  Mr.  Mal- 
lock's  challenge  by  taking,  as  he  suggests,  the  epistle  from 
Macbeth  to  Lady  Macbeth  {Macbeth,  Act.  I,  Scene  5),  which 
is  one  of  the  passages  in  the  first  Folio  printed  in  Italics,  and 
indicating  under  each  letter  the  font  to  which,  according  to 
her  interpretation,  it  belongs.  Then  let  Mr.  Mallock  have  the 
passage  photographically  enlarged,  so  that  the  dullest  eye 
can  detect  the  smallest  differences  in  the  letters,  and  when 
the  result  is  printed  the  public  will  have  a  fair  chance  to  judge 
for  itself. 

But,  whatever  the  outcome  of  the  discussion  aroused  by 
Mrs.  Gallup's  book  may  be,  the  story  that  Francis  Bacon 
appears  to  tell  in  its  pages  does  not  fail  in  interest.  The  well- 
known  fact  that  historical  rumor  has  long  whispered  hints 
touching  many  of  his  alleged  revelations  serves  to  draw  atten- 
tion to  them.  Some  of  Mrs.  Gallup's  critics  intimate  that  those 
rumors  may  really  be  the  sole  foundation  of  her  decipherings. 
But  they  do  not  accuse  her  of  wilful  invention,  and  if  she  has 
dreamed  these  things  it  must  be  admitted  that  she  dreams 
interestingly. 

Listen  to  Bacon's  complaint  of  the  injustice  done  him, 
as  Mrs.  Gallup  says  she  reads  it  in  the  double  types  of  the 
Advancement  of  Learning" : 

"Queen  Elizabeth,  the  late  soveraigne,  wedded,  secretly, 
th'  Earle,  my  father,  at  th'  Tower  of  London,  and  afterwards 

at  th'  house  of  Lord  P this  ceremony  was  repeated,  but 

not  with  any  of  the  pompe  and  ceremonie  that  sorteth  wel 
with  queenly  espousals,  yet  with  a  sufficient  number  of 
witnesses. 

''I  therfore,  being  the  first  borne  sonne  of  this  union 
should  sit  upon  the  throne,  ruling  the  people  over  whom  the 
Supreame  Soveraigne  doth  shewe  my  right,  as  hath  beene  said, 
whilst  suff'ring  others  to  keepe  the  royall  power. 

"A  foxe,  seen  oft  at  our  Court  in  th'  forme  and  outward 
appearance  of  a  man,  named  Robert  Cecill — the  hunchback — 
must  answer  at  th'  Divine  Araignment  to  my  charge  agains' 

118 


him,  for  he  despoyled  me  ruthlessly.  Tli'  Queene,  my  mother, 
might  in  course  of  events  which  foUow'd  their  revelations 
regarding  my  birth  and  parentage,  without  doubt  having  some 
naturall  pride  in  her  offspring,  often  have  shewne  us  no  little 
attenntion  had  not  the  crafty  foxe  aroused  in  that  tiger-like 
spiritt  th'  jealousy  that  did  so  tormente  the  Queene  [that] 
neyther  night  nor  day  brought  her  respite  from  such  suggestio's 
about  my  hope  that  I  might  bee  England's  King. 

"He  told  her  my  endeavours  were  all  for  sov'raigntie  and 
honour,  a  perpetuall  intending  and  constant  hourlie  practising 
some  one  thing  urged  or  imposed,  it  should  seeme,  by  that 
absolute,  inhere't,  honorably  deriv'd  necessitie  of  a  conserva- 
tion of  roiail  dignity. 

"He  bade  her  observe  the  strength,  breadth  and  com- 
passe,  at  an  early  age,  of  th'  intellectual  powers  I  displaied, 
and  ev'n  deprecated  th'  gen'rous  disposition  or  graces  of  speech 
which  wonne  me  manie  friends,  implying  that  my  gifts  would 
thus,  no  doubt,  uproot  her,  because  I  would,  like  Absalom, 
steale  awaie  th'  people's  harts  and  usurp  the  throne  whilst  my 
mother  was  yet  alive." 

Bacon  appears  also  as  frequently  lamenting  the  tragic 
death  of  his  (alleged)  brother  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  and  in 
King  Lear  Mrs.  Gallup  reads  from  the  Bi-literal  Cipher  a 
Btatement  that  Essex's  life  might  have  been  saved  if  a  signet- 
ring  that  he  desired  to  have  presented  to  his  mother  had  reached 
her:  "As  hee  had  beene  led  to  bel'eve  he  had  but  to  send  the 
ring  to  her  and  th'  same  would  at  a  mome't's  warni'g  bring 
rescue  or  reliefe,  he  relyed  vainly,  alas !  on  this  promis'd  ayde. 
...  It  slial  bee  well  depicted  in  a  play,  and  you  wil  be  in- 
structted  to  discypher  it  fully." 

In  Ben  Jonson's  Masques,  Mrs.  Gallup  says,  she  finds 
among  other  things  this  statement  in  Bacon's  Bi-literal  Cipher: 

"The  next  volume  will  he  uiulcr  \V.  Shakespeare's  name. 
As  some  which  have  now  been  produced  have  borne  upon  the 
title-page  his  name  though  all  are  my  owne  work,  I  have 
allow'd  it  to  stand  on  manie  others  which  I  myselfe  regard 
as  equal  in  merite.  When  I  have  assum'd  men's  names,  th' 
next  step  is  to  create  for  each  a  stile  naturall  to  th'  man  that 

119 


yet  should  [let]  my  owne  bee  seene,  as  a  thrid  o'  warpe  in 
my  entire  fabricke  soe  that  it  may  be  all  mine." 

In  the  same  work  Bacon  is  represented  as  saying  that 
Spenser,  Greene,  Peele  and  Marlowe  have  sold  him  their 
names.  This,  it  would  appear,  was  not  the  case  with  Ben 
Jonson,  of  whom  he  speaks  as  his  friend,  and  the  implication 
is  that  Jonson  knew  what  Bacon  was  doing  with  regard  to 
the  others. 

Several  times  Bacon  is  made  to  refer  to  the  murder  of 
Amy  Kobsart,  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  wife,  of  whom  he  inti- 
mates, as  rumor  has  long  done,  that  the  Earl  wished  to  rid 
himself  in  order  to  marry  Elizabeth. 

The  stories  of  his  royal  birth,  of  his  love  for  Marguerite 
of  Navarre,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  tale  are  repeated  again  and 
again  from  the  various  books  in  which  the  Cipher  is  said  to 
lie.  Frequently  Bacon  appeals  to  the  unknown  decipherer 
whom  he  trusts  some  future  time  to  produce,  urging  him  to 
spare  no  pains  to  unearth  the  hidden  things  and  promising 
him  undying  fame  for  his  labor. 

Among  other  things  alleged  to  be  contained  in  Bacon's 
Ciphers  are  translations  of  Homer  and  of  Virgil,  part  of 
which,  in  resounding  blank  verse,  Mrs.  Gallup  publishes  in  her 
book.  And  some  of  her  critics  aver  that  it  bears  evidence  of 
having  been  based  upon  Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad, 
because  it  contains  names  and  descriptions  that  Pope  intro- 
duced without  any  warrant  from  Homer. 

It  is  strongly  urged  by  some  of  Mrs,  Gallup's  critics  that 
if  Bacon  wished  to  tell  such  a  story  as  is  here  put  in  his  mouth 
he  would  never  have  done  it  in  so  cumbrous  a  fashion,  but 
would  simply  have  written  it  down  and  placed  it  under  seal, 
in  trustw^orthy  hands,  to  be  opened  and  read  by  posterity. 
But  if,  in  spite  of  such  objections,  the  existence  of  the  Cipher 
should  be  proved,  the  question  would  then  arise:  "Who  did 
put  it  there,  if  Bacon  didn't,  and  for  what  end  ?" 


120 


PROS  AND  CONS  OF  THE  CONTROVERSY 


THE  BI-LITERAL  CYPHER  OF  SIR  FRANCIS  BACOK 

BACoisriANA,  London. 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 

Editor  Baconiania: 

From  reading  the  January  number  of  the  Magazine,  it 
would  seem  that  I  had  at  least  furnished  a  new  topic  for 
discussion,  and  given  a  new  impetus  to  the  study  of  things 
Baconian,  in  the  discovery  that  the  Bi-literal  Cipher  of  Francis 
Bacon  was  incorporated  in  the  printing  of  his  works,  and  that 
a  secret  story  of  the  great  Author  was  hidden  in  them.  This 
in  itself  is  a  distinct  gain  for  the  study  had  seemed  to  lan- 
guish for  material  upon  which  to  feed  until  the  opening  of 
new  channels  of  thought  and  research  and  comparison  of  ideas 
upon  the  new  discovery.  The  object  of  the  Society  is  investi- 
gation, First:  of  Bacon's  authorship  of  a  much  wider  range 
of  literature  than  has  been  accredited  to  him  upon  the  title 
pages  of  the  books  of  his  time.  Secondly :  many  have  believed 
that  Ciphers  would  be  found  that  would  present  new  phases 
of  his  life  history  which  has  seemed  so  mysterious,  if  only 
the  right  "key"  could  be  touched.  The  limits  of  novelty  in 
the  discussion  of  all  these  things  seemed  to  have  been  reached, 
however.  Paralellisms  in  philosophy,  language  and  thought 
had  been  urged  until  variety  of  phrases  had  been  exhausted 
in  comparing  them,  yet  all  arguments,  while  morally  conclu- 
sive to  the  party  urging  them,  were  tinged  with  inconclusive- 
ness  in  the  lack  of  physical  demonstration.  The  Ciphers 
found  furnish  the  missing  links  which  explain  much,  if  not  all. 

N^aturally  the  Ciphers  and  what  they  tell  invite  investi- 
gation and  the  pages  of  Baconiania  would  seem  a  not  inap- 
propriate forum  for  their  discussion. 

The  understandings  of  different  individuals  concerning 
the  same  subject  are  almost  as  varied  as  the  individuals  them- 
selves, hence  we    must  expect  a    variety  of    opinions.      C\)n- 

122 


■course  of  words  lias  such  different  meanings  to  different  people 
that  we  are  compelled  to  believe  that  the  brain  is  like  a  plastic 
matter  of  varying  degrees  of  hardness,  receiving  but  the  faintest 
impression,  or  none,  of  some  things,  while  others  are  deeply 
imprinted  upon  the  recording  tablets  of  memory.  Then,  too, 
the  sources  of  information  are  so  varied  that  the  results  of 
studying  them  are  like  looking  through  glasses  of  differing  color 
and  focus,  and  the  individual  receives  and  describes  the  im- 
pression from  their  own  particular  lense  and  confidently  asserts 
that  to  be  the  only  truth,  hence  investigation,  comparison  and 
discussion  are  needful  in  the  clarifying  process. 

Investigation,  however,  does  not  mean  rejection  of  that 
which  is  new  or  unpleasant  or  not  in  accord  with  our  precon- 
<3eived  ideas,  else  my  own  labors  upon  old  books  would  have 
stopped  years  ago,  and  I  should  not  now  be  engaged  in  explain- 
ing what  I  have  found,  and  the  old  beliefs  would  not  have 
suffered  the  jar  of  a  "Cipher  discovery". 

Fully  conscious  of  the  absolute  veracity  of  the  work  I 
have  done,  and  my  responsibility  in  the  expression,  I  knoir 
that  the  Bi-literal  Cipher  exists  in  the  printing  of  Bacon's 
works:  I  hioir  that  others  can  follow  over  the  same  course, 
if  they  have  the  aptitude  and  patience  for  it,  and  can  reach 
no  other  correct  results.  To  those  who  have  availed  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  carefully  to  study  and  follow  my  work,  no 
argument  is  needed  to  convince  them  of  my  assertion.  Doul)ts 
and  objections  come  from  those  who  have  not  had  that  oppor- 
tunity or  have  given  tlie  work  but  slight  attention. 

There  are  those  who  seem  to  think  the  deciphered  work 
as  published  is  a  creation  of  my  own, — or  that  I  am  self- 
deceived.  They  do  me  too  much  honor, — or  too  little.  It  is 
an  honor  to  be  thought  capable  of  such  a  production,  through 
the  gathering  of  historical  facts,  aided  by  a  romantic  imagina- 
tion, and  the  power  to  express  it  all  in  the  pure  old  English 
language  of  Francis  Bacon.  Did  I  possess  such  creative  powers 
I  would  have  devoted  them  to  some  more  popular  theme  and 
spared  eyes  and  brain  from  the  nervous  exhaustion  of  exam- 
ining seven  thousand  pages  of  old  English  printing  for  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Italic  letters  in  them.  I  cannot  aspire  to 
thr-  honor  of  such  a  "creation." 


1  23 


On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  complimentary  to  mj  judg- 
ment, or  that  of  my  publishers,  that  I,  or  they,  should  go 
through  the  constant  researches  of  the  last  seven  years  in 
libraries  so  widely  scattered, — seK  deceived  as  to  the  resulting 
work,  expending  so  much  of  time  and  strength  and  substance 
in  developing  something  that  was  non-existent; — or  if  not 
that — and  the  Cipher  has  no  reason  for  existence — what  shall 
be  said  of  so  stupendous  and  brain-racking  effort  to  deceive 
my  readers  with  so  purposeless  a  production. 

It  is  urged  that  the  Cipher  disclosures  do  not  accord  with 
history.  This  is  a  field  for  the  investigators.  I  can  only  record 
what  I  find  as  I  find  it.  "The  facts  of  history"  is  an  elastic 
term  and  the  deductions  drawn  from  public  records  of  the 
earlier  ages  vary  greatly.  The  conviction  is  growing  that  much 
of  interest  was  not  recorded  and  it  is  certain  that  sources  of 
information  are  too  diverse  and  greatly  scattered  to  be  all 
brought  together  into  an  exact  statement  of  facts.  If  the 
Cipher  had  a  purpose,  it  was  to  record  that  which  was  being 
suppressed.  It  would  have  been  a  work  of  supererogation  to 
put  into  Cipher  the  open  records  of  the  day. 

Many  inquiries  have  reached  me  asking  "How  is  the 
Cipher  worked  ?"  and  expressing  disappointment  that  the 
writer  had  been  unable  after  some  hours  of  study,  to  grasp  the 
system  or  its  application. 

It  would  be  difficult,  and  hardly  to  be  expected  that  an 
understanding  of  Greek  or  Sanscrit  could  be  reached  with  the 
aid  of  a  few  written  lines  or  with  a  few  hours  study.  It  is 
equally  so  with  the  Cipher.  Deciphering  the  Bi-literal  Cipher 
as  it  appears  in  Bacon's  works  will  be  impossible  to  those  who 
are  not  possessed  of  an  eyesight  of  the  keenest  and  perfect 
accuracy  of  vision  in  distinguishing  minute  differences  in 
form,  lines,  angles  and  curves  in  the  printed  letters.  Other 
things  absolutely  essential  are  unlimited  time  and  patience, 
and  aptitude,  love  for  overcoming  puzzling  difficulties  and, 
I  sometimes  think,  inspiration.  As  not  every  one  can  be  a 
poet,  an  artist,  an  astronomer  or  adept  in  other  branches  re- 
quiring special  aptitude,  so,  and  for  the  same  reasons,  not  every 
one  will  be  able  to  master  the  intricacies  of  the  Cipher,  for, 
in   many  ways  it  is  most  intricate  and  puzzling,  not  in  the 

124 


system  itself,  but  in  its  application,  as  it  is  found  in  the  old 
books.  It  must  not  be  made  too  plain,  lest  it  be  discovered 
too  quickly,  nor  hid  too  deep  lest  it  never  see  the  light  of  day, 
is  the  substance  of  the  thought  of  the  inventor,  many  times 
repeated  in  the  work.  The  system  has  been  recognized  since 
the  first  publication  of  De  Augmentis,  but  the  ages  since  have 
waited  to  learn  of  its  application  to  Bacon's  works ;  and  yet  the 
idea  seems  to  be  prevalent  that  "any  one"  should  be  able  to 
do  the  work,  once  the  bi-literal  alphabet  is  known.  This  is 
as  great  a  mistake  as  it  would  be  to  reject  the  translations  of 
the  character  writings  and  hieroglyphics  of  older  times  which 
have  been  deciphered  because  we  could  not  in  a  few  hours 
master  them  ourselves.  Ciphers  are  used  to  hide  things,  not  to 
make  them  clear. 


125 


BI-LITEKAL  CYPHEE  OF  FKA^CIS  BACON. 

A  REPLY  TO   CERTAIN   CRITICS. 
by  elizabeth  wells  gallup. 

Pall  Mall  Magazine,  May,  1902. 

To  the  March  number  of  the  Pall  Mall  Magazine  Mrs.  Gallup  con- 
tributeH  a  preliminary  paper  on  the  controversy  which  has  so  stirred 
the  literary  world.  We  now  place  before  our  readers  a  second  article 
in  which  Mrs.  Gallup  deals  specifically  with  a  number  of  points  which 
have  been  raised  by  certain  individual  zvriters  during  the  progress  of 
the  controversy.  This  Mrs.  Gallup  has  not  been  able  to  do  before, 
because,  as  we  have  already  stated,  the  criticisms  were  not  in  her  pos- 
session when  her  Arst  contribution  left  America.  In  sending  us  her 
second  contribution  Mrs.  Gallup  wishes  us  to  point  out  that  the  art- 
icles to  which  she  is  now  replying  occupied  considerable  space  in  the 
magazines  publishing  them,  and  the  answers,  to  be  at  all  full  and  cor- 
respondingly valuable,  require  much  greater  space  than  was  placed  at 
her  disposal  by  the  Pall  Mall  Magazine.  In  fairness  to  Mrs.  Gallup 
we  think  it  right  to  precede  her  paper  zvith  this  explanation. 

Ed.  p.  M.  M. 

I  gladly  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  of  replying  to  some 
of  my  critics  in  the  Pall  Mall  Magazine,  as  discussions  in 
the  daily  press  sometimes  become  acrimonious  and  detrimental 
to  real  study  and  calm  judgment,  while  a  presentation  of  the 
subject  in  the  pages  of  a  fireside  companion  can  be  enjoyed  in 
the  hours  of  leisure  and  recreation. 

In  view  of  the  remarkable  expressions  in  the  Times  and 
other  papers,  and  in  two  or  three  magazines  in  England,  I 
should  perhaps  regard  myself  fortunate  that  there  is  now  no  In- 
quisition to  compel  a  discoverer  to  recant,  under  penalty  of  the 
rack;  and  I  can  already  sympathise  with  a  contemporary  of 
Bacon  who,  when  forced  publicly  to  deny  what  he  knew  to  be 
truth,  was  said  to  have  muttered,  as  he  withdrew,  "E  pur  si 
muove  !" 

The  torrent  of  questions,  objections,  suggestions,  inferen- 
ces, and  imaginings  that  have  overwhelmed  the  press  over 
Bacon's  Bi-literal  Cypher,  has  shown  an  astonishing  interest  in 

126 


the  subject,  and  I  may  congratulate  myself,  at  any  rate,  upon 
being  the  innocent  cause  of  what  somebody  has  called  a  "tremen- 
dous propulsion  of  thought  currents."  Much  of  this  energy 
has  been  expended  along  lines  in  no  way  relating  to  me  or  the 
validity  of  my  work,  but  we  may  suppose  there  is  "no  exercise 
of  brain  force  without  its  value,"  and  in  the  swirl  there  may  be 
others  who  will  say  with  me,  "the  world  does  move." 

I  had  expected,  if  not  hoped,  that  with  the  aids  I  had  set  out, 
some  adept  in  ciphers — sufficiently  curious  to  enjoy  solving 
Sphinxlike  riddles — would  have  followed,  and  so  proved  my 
work.  I  have  been  surprised  to  find  how  few  have  been  able  to 
grasp  the  system  of  its  application,  and  how  much  defective 
vision  affects  the  judgment.  I  also  regret  very  seriously  the 
superficiality  of  most  of  the  investigations.  I  am  therefore 
obliged  to  go  into  details,  when  I  had  expected  eager  research  by 
others  would  have  made  it  a  fascinating  race  to  forestall  me  in 
deciphering  the  old  books  I  was  unable  to  obtain. 

Tex  Objections  in  the  "Times." 

"A  Correspondent,"  in  the  Times,  fully  discusses  and  sets 
out  objections,  summarising  them  finally  under  the  following 
ten  heads: 

1.  "There  are  discernible  distinct  differences  of  form  in 
certain  individual  Italic  letters  used  by  printers  of  tlie  period." 

This  is  an  important  admission  of  one  important  fact. 
Less  careful  investigators  have  directly,  or  by  inference,  denied 
that  any  such  discernible  differences  exist  at  all.  In  the  Bi- 
literal  Cypher,  p.  310,  Bacon  says:  "Where,  by  a  slighte  altera- 
tion of  the  common  Italicke  letters,  the  alphabets  of  a  bi-literate 
cypher  having  the  two  forms  are  readily  obtain'd,"  etc.,  which 
states  clearly  enough  that  he  had  few  changes  to  make  to  secure 
his  double  alphabet. 

It  is  admitted  also  that  the  full  explanation  of  the  bi-literal 
cipher  is  given  in  De  Aiujmentis  Scientiarum.  Gilbert  Wats's 
translation  says:  "Together  with  this,  you  must  have  ready  at 
hand  a  Bi-formed  Alphabet,  which  may  represent  all  the  Letters 
of  the  common  Alphabet,  as  well  Oapitall  Letters  as  the  Smaller 
Characters  in  double  forme,  as  may  fit  every  man's  occasion." 
He  also  says :  "Certainly  it  is  an  Art  which  requires  great  paines 
and  a  good  witt,  and  is  consecrate  to  the  Counsels  of  Princes." 

127 


So  we  have,  in  analysing  this  first  objection,  made  good 
progress  when  we  have  learned — (1)  the  admitted  differences 
in  the  types;  (2)  from  Bacon  himself  of  the  use  of  bi-formed 
alphabets;  (3)  the  clear  and  full  explanation  of  the  cipher 
itself,  which  can  be  applied  to  these  differences ;  (4)  his  state- 
ment that  it  is  an  art  which  requires  great  pains  and  a  good  wit 
(and  good  vision  as  well)  ;  (5)  that  its  importance  is  so  great 
that  it  is  consecrate  to  the  counsels  of  princes.  This  really 
leaves  but  one  question:  did  Bacon  print  this  particular  cipher 
into  his  books  ?  I  answer  from  a  study  of  months  and  years 
that  he  did,  and  that  I  have  correctly  transcribed  it. 

2,  The  correspondent  says:  "These  differences  were  by  no 
means  confined  to  the  period  when  Bacon  lived,  or  to  the  books 
in  which  Mrs.  Gallup  alleges  a  secret  cypher — in  fact,  they  are 
to  be  detected  in  similar  profusion  in  books  published  thirty- 
five  years  after  Bacon's  death — notably  in  the  third  folio  of 
Shakespeare,  1661." 

I  replied  to  this  in  a  former  communication  to  the  Times, 
stating  that  in  some  old  books  of  the  period  similar  founts  of 
type  in  two  or  more  forms  are  used ;  that  I  have  endeavoured 
to  find  the  cipher  in  some  of  these,  but  found  the  forms  were 
used  promiscuously,  without  method,  and  the  differences  could 
not  be  classified  to  produce,  when  separated  into  "groups  of 
five,"  words  and  sentences  in  the  bi-literal  cipher.  But  this  has 
no  direct  bearing  on  the  subject.  As  Bacon's  invention  con- 
sisted in  making  use  (by  slight  alteration)  of  varieties  and 
forms  of  type  then,  as  now,  in  common  use,  he  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  introduction  of  the  forms,  their  general 
use,  or  continuance.  He  employed  a  method  by  which  two 
forms  were  arranged  in  a  definite  way,  to  serve  his  purpose  in 
his  own  publications,  while  the  method  would  be  absolutely  be- 
yond discovery  without  the  key.  This  key  he  withheld  until 
1623.  We  now  know  that  Bacon  used  this  method  from  1579 
i  to  the  end  of  his  career,  and  that  Rawley  employed  it  until 
f  1635  for  cipher  purposes.  How  much  later  it  was  used  I  have 
bepn  unable  to  learn,  that  being  the  latest  date  of  my  decipher- 
ing. 


128 


"CoxFiis'ED  TO  Few  Types." 

3.  "These  differences,  in  so  far  as  they  are  well  marked, 
uniform,  and  coherent,  appear  to  be  confined  to  very  few  types 
— in  the  case  of  Shakespeare's  plays  (first,  second,  and  third 
folios,  1623,  1632,  1661)  to  some  ten  or  twelve  at  most  of  the 
capital  letters." 

This  is  incorrect,  as  I  have  observed  in  replying  to  Objec- 
tion 1,  But  starting  with  twelve  capitals,  there  is  half  that 
alphabet.  The  others  can  be  found  by  closer  observation.  Many 
of  the  small  letters  are  as  well  marked  in  some  of  the  types, 
not  only  in  the  First  Folio,  but  especially  in  the  Historie  of  the 
Raigne  of  King  Henry  the  Seventh  (1622),  and  in  the  first 
edition  of  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum  (1623). 

Differences  Due  to  Various  Causes. 

4.  He  states:  "Apart  from  such  well-defined  differences, 
there  are  to  be  observed  in  the  Italic  types  of  the  period  in- 
numerable and  unclassifiable  differences  of  form,  due,  it  would 
seem,  to  many  contributory  causes,  such  as  defective  manufac- 
ture, broken  face,  careless  locking  of  formes  (involving  bad 
alignment  or  improper  inclination  of  individual  letters),  bad 
ink,  bad  paper,  and  the  great  age  of  the  impression." 

It  is  true  there  are  differences  that  are  not  the  distinctive 
differences  governing-  their  use,  but  it  is  very  rarely  indeed  that 
a  letter  is  found  that  is  not  paired  with  another,  which,  though 
like  in  some  respects,  is  unlike  in  certain  definite  features.  It 
involves  no  more  difficulty  to  find  how  a  number  of  letters 
similar,  yet  with  certain  distinctive  differences,  are  to  be  sep- 
arated into  two  classes,  than  to  distinguish  in  the  same  way  a 
number  of  letters  in  entirely  different  forms.  Bacon  himself 
speaks  of  the  multi-  or  bi-formed  type.  We  have  difficulties 
arising  from  very  natural  causes,  but  there  are  none  that  cannot 
be  overcome  with  time  and  patient  study. 

Mr.  Mai.lock's  Examples. 

5.  "Mrs.  Gallup's  manipulation  of  these  minor  differences 
follows  no  clear  and  consistent  rule  or  rules ;  so  that  types  of 
many  differing  characteristics  arc  classed  by  her  as  belonging  to 

129 


one  fount,  while  others  closely  resembling  each  other  are  classed 
by  her  as  belonging  to  two  different  founts  on  different  oc- 
casions." 

This  is  erroneous.  There  is  no  "manipulation,"  and  the 
rules  are  consistent.  In  a  few  instances  the  same  kinds  of 
letters  are  wrongly  marked  as  a  and  b  because  of  printers' 
errors,  which  are  detected  by  methods  elsewhere  more  specifical- 
ly set  out,  or  they  may  be  changed  in  value  by  a  peculiar  mark, 
as  explained  on  the  first  page  of  the  deciphered  work  from 
Henry  Seventh.  Printers'  errors  are  not  infrequent  in  the 
works.  They  are  found  in  Bacon's  own  illustration  in  De  Aug- 
mentis  Scientiarum  (1624),  e.g.  In  conquiesti,  line  5,  and  in 
quos,  line  10,  the  letter  q  is  from  the  "h  fount."  It  should  be  an 
'Vfount"  letter,  and  was  so  printed  in  the  first  or  "London 
edition"  (1623).  An  Hn  line  12,  and  another  in  line  14,  is 
from  the  wrong  fount.  There  is  also  an  error  in  grouping  in 
the  1624  edition,  which  does  not  occur  in  the  1623. 

As  it  happened,  similar  printers'  errors  occurred  in  one  of 
Mr.  Mallock's  examples  in  the  Nineteenth  Century — the  passage 
from  De  Augmentis  in  which  he  concealed  his  own  couplet: 
"The  star  of  Shakespeare,  etc." — and  that  work  was  done  by 
twentieth-century  printers,  of  Mr.  Mallock's  own  selection. 
The  passage  he  quotes,  printed  in  the  two  forms  of  types,  can- 
not be  deciphered  as  printed  on  account  of  an  error  in  the  tenth 
group,  and  a  few  letters  used  from  wrong  founts.  I  have  sent 
Mr.  Mallock  the  correction;  but  I  have  been  wondering  since 
whether  it  were  not  incorporated  intentionally,  to  test  my 
powers  of  observation,  for  after  the  tenth  group  the  rest  of  the 
passage  is  simply  impossible  to  read  in  bi-literal  cipher,  until 
the  short  group  is  detected  and  a  new  division  made.  I  cannot 
think  Mr.  Mallock  made  these  mistakes  in  marking  his  MS. 
Some  errors  exist  in  our  own  work,  which  have  been  dis- 
covered since  publication,  and  may  quite  possibly  be  found 
by  those  who  study  the  book. 

Printers  and  "Digraphs." 

6.  "In  the  period  when  the  writings  under  discussion 
were  published,  printers  made  a  liberal  use  of  digraphs,  such 
as  'ft,'  'fh,'  'ct,'  'fl,'  etc.     (In  one  page  of  24  lines,  from  which 

130 


Mrs.  Gallup  derives  lier  cipher  narrative,  there  are  26 
digraphs. )  With  regard  to  the  deciphering  of  these,  Mrs.  Gallup 
suggests  no  rules  and  obeys  no  laws." 

Again  this  is  erroneous  in  the  last  clause.  I  quote  from  a 
preceding  paragraph  of  this  correspondent's  own  article,  re- 
garding Bacon's  treatment  of  the  digraph,  as  follows:  "In  the 
example  which  he  gave  of  the  enfolding  of  such  a  cipher  in  a 
portion  of  one  of  Cicero's  letters,  he  printed  an  se  (diphthong), 
occuring  in  the  Latin  word  'cseteris,'  not  as  a  diphthong  at  all, 
but  as  two  separate  letters — ae.  Similarly,  he  caused  the  ordin- 
ary digraph  'ct,'  invariably  printed  in  one  type  in  those  days,  to 
be  printed  as  two  separate  letters — ct,  showing,  I  think  con- 
clusively, that  in  his  cipher,  as  applied  to  printing,  digraphs 
must  be — treated  separately.  Our  "Correspondent"  says  "di- 
graphs must  be  kept  out  of  the  print,"  but  it  is  a  wrong  infer- 
ence. These  diphthongs  and  digraphs  must  be  compared  with 
one  another,  not  with  single  letters,  but  the  parts  are  to  be  con- 
sidered separately.  They  will  each  be  found  to  have  distinctive 
features,  and  a  decipherer  who  has  become  at  all  expert  will  at 
once  determine  their  proper  classification. 

Roman  Types. 

7.  "In  certain  specific  instances,  Mrs.  Gallup's  decipher- 
ing is  arithmetically  incorrect,  or  must  be  helped  out  with  the 
help  of  an  arbitrary  employment  of  Roman  types — on  occasion 
even  this  device  will  not  avail  to  produce  the  requisite  number 
of  letters  for  her  alleged  cipher  message." 

For  the  specific  instances  where  Roman  type  is  used, 
Bacon's  instructions  are  found  on  pp.  66-67  of  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher,  which  "Correspondent"  has  evidently  overlooked.  I 
have  used  this  passage  on  another  occasion,  but  will  quote  again, 
as  others  have  stumbled  over  the  same  difficulty : 

"In  order  to  conceale  my  Cypher  more  perfectly,  I  am  pre- 
paring for  th'  purpose  a  sette  of  alphabets  in  th'  Latine  tipe, 
not  for  use  in  th'  greatest  or  lengthy  story  or  epistle,  but  as 
another  disguise,  for,  in  ensample,  a  prologue,  pra3fatio,  the 
epilogues,  and  headlines  attracted  too  much  notice.  N'oe  othe' 
waie  of  diverting  th'  curious  could  be  used  where  th'  exterior 

131 


epistle  is  but  briefe,  however  it  will  not  thus  turne  aside  mj 
decipherer,  for  his  eye  is  too  well  practis'd  in  artes  that  easily 
misleade  others  who  enquire  th'  waye." 

I  found  Roman  type  used  in  such  places,  and  the  differ- 
ences in  the  letters  are  quite  distinct,  but  no  use  was  made  of 
this  new  device,  so  far  as  I  have  found,  until  1623,  when  it  ap- 
peared in  the  First  Folio,  and  in  Vitae  et  Mortis. 

An  incident,  for  the  moment  mortifying,  occurred  in  Bos- 
ton, by  which  I  discovered  an  error  of  our  printers  in  the  first 
edition  issued.  Those  having  copies  of  the  first  edition  will 
notice  the  word  "Baron"  is  left  out  of  the  signature,  which 
reads  in  the  later  edition  Francis,  Baron  of  Verulam  (p.  166), 
deciphered  from  the  short  poem  signed  ''I.  M."  in  the  Shake- 
speare Folio.  When  I  visited  Boston  to  continue  my  researches, 
friends  previously  interested  in  my  work  mentioned  the  diffi- 
culty they  had  in  trying  to  decipher,  as  I  did,  this  portion.  I 
remarked  the  Roman  letters  must  be  used;  to  which  they  re- 
plied the  number  of  Italic  letters  corresponded  with  the  number 
of  groups  required,  but  the  groups  would  not  "read."  Upon 
deciphering  it  again,  in  the  presence  of  these  people,  I  found 
the  word  Baron  had  been  dropped  out  in  the  printing,  and  the 
error  was  corrected  in  the  second  edition. 

The  answers  already  given  meet  the  summarised  objection 
of  the  correspondent's  eighth  and  ninth  paragraphs. 

The  Deciphering  Wokkeoom. 

10.  "The  nature  of  the  Cipher  is  such,  being  in  fact  en- 
tirely dependent  upon  the  presence  and  position  of  a  certain 
number  of  b's,  that,  given  a  framework  of  such  determining 
factors  (which  might  easily  be  supplied  by  the  acknowledged 
differences  in  a  few  letters),  a  misdirected  ingenuity  could  with 
patience  supply  all  that  a  preconceived  notion  could  possibly 
demand." 

The  cipher  alphabet  Bacon  illustrates  in  De  Augmentis 
Scientiarum  contains  68  as  and  52  h's.  The  proportion  in 
general  use  was  found  to  be  about  5  to  3.  Perhaps  I  cannot  do 
better  to  clear  myself  from  the  aspersions  here  intimated  than 
to  explain  the  methods  of  the  workroom  by  which  the  larger 
part  of  the  deciphering  was   actually  done.      A  type- writing 

132 


macliine  was  changed  in  its  mechanism  to  space  automatically 
after  each  group  of  five  letters.  The  operator  alone  copied  every 
Italic  letter,  and  the  sheets  came  to  me  with  the  letters  already 
grouped.  The  different  forms  of  letters  in  the  book  to  be  de- 
ciphered were  then  made  a  study,  the  peculiarities  of  each  fount 
classified  and  sketched  in  an  enlarged  and  accentuated  form 
upon  a  small  chart,  and  the  'b  fount'  (being  the  fewer)  was 
thoroughly  learned.  The  chart  was  always  before  me  for  use 
upon  doubtful  letters.  I  marked  upon  the  sheet  on  which  the 
letters  had  been  grouped  only  those  that  I  found  to  be  of  the 
'&  fount.'  An  assistant  marked  the  as  and  transcribed  the 
result,  when  I  knew  for  the  first  time  the  reading  of  the  deci- 
phered product.  It  was  thus  impossible  for  me  to  "preconceive" 
it,  and  no  amount  of  "ingenuity,  misdirected"  or  otherwise, 
could  have  developed  the  hundreds  of  pages  of  MS.  of  these  con- 
secutive letters  into  anything  except  what  the  cipher  letters 
would  spell  out. 

The  Operator  and  the  Errors. 

Excepting,  of  course,  occasional  corrections  of  the  errors 
of  the  operator  in  copying,  or  myself  in  determining  the  proper 
fount,  the  work  stands  exactly  as  it  left  the  assistant's  hands. 
The  original  sheets  are  unchanged  and  in  my  possession.  Er- 
rors occurred  in  the  work  as  it  progressed,  but  they  were  so 
guarded  against  by  the  system  itself  that  the  deciphering  was 
quickly  brought  to  a  stop  until  they  were  corrected.  Coming 
from  the  assistant,  the  words  were  without  capitals,  or  punctua- 
tion, as  would  be  the  case  by  any  method  of  deciphering  a 
cipher.  The  work  of  capitalization  and  punctuation,  in  the 
book,  is  my  own,  and  in  this  alone  was  choice  permitted  me. 

The  difficulty  with  "A  Correspondent,"  as  with  many  ob- 
servers, is  that  he  jumps  at  once  to  conclusions  from  very  super- 
ficial and  limited  examination,  as  well  as  unfamiliarity  with  the 
principles  which  underlie  the  work;  and  while  his  keenness  of 
observation  is  greater  than  some  evince,  he  has  not,  by  any 
means,  given  the  matter  sufficient  study  to  become  an  expert, 
or  to  warrant  him  in  expressing  a  critical  judgment.  He  would 
not  expect  to  learn  Greek  in  a  day,  nor  to  deciplier  hieroglyphics 
on  an  obelisk  upon  a  first  attempt.  There  are  in  the  Plays  five 
pairs   of   alphabets   of   twenty-four   letters   each    (capital   and 

133 


small)  in  the  different  styles  and  sizes  of  Italic  type.  In  other 
words,  four  hundred  and  eighty  different  letters  have  to  be 
compared  with  their  fellows  to  determine  the  classification.  It 
is  not,  then,  the  work  of  a  day  or  a  week  to  enable  one  to  pass 
an  opinion  upon  the  Folio  as  a  whole,  and  yet  that  is  what  he 
attempts  to  do. 

The  "Times"  Facsimiles. 

The  Times  reproduces  a  page  of  facsimiles  and  an  illus- 
tration taken  from  Spenser's  Complaints,  and  has  also  arranged 
in  enlarged  form  some  small  letters.  In  fairness  the  captials 
should  have  appeared  as  well.  In  the  processes  necessary  for 
reproduction,  upon  newspaper  of  coarse  fibre  and  uneven  surface 
with  the  speed  of  a  modern  press,  many  distinctive  features 
of  the  letters  have  been  lost  or  distorted  to  the  skilled  eye,  and 
the  unskilled  should  not  be  asked  to  form  a  judgment  of  the 
integrity  of  a  difficult  cipher  from  such  utterly  untrustworthy 
reproductions. 

As  explained  in  the  Introduction  to  the  second  edition  of 
my  book,  the  facsimiles  were  not  satisfactory.  The  difficulties 
arising  from  age,  unequal  absorption  of  ink,  poor  paper,  and 
poor  printing  in  the  old  books,  cause  some  features  to  be  ex- 
aggerated, while  others  disappear;  and  on  account  of  unavoid- 
able inaccuracies,  they  were  omitted  from  the  third  edition. 

Inspiration. 

It  is  strange  how  an  inadvertent  word  or  phrase,  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  choose  to  pervert,  will  return  to  plague  one. 
In  an  article  in  Baconiana,  I  enumerated  the  requirements  for 
the  work  of  deciphering  as  "eyesight  of  the  keenest  and  perfect 
accuracy  of  vision  in  distinguishing  minute  differences  in  form, 

lines,  angles,  and  curves  of  the  printed  letters unlimited 

time  and  patience,  persistency  and  aptitude,  love  for  over- 
coming puzzling  difficulties,  and  I  sometimes  think  inspiration." 
Any  one  who  .has  worked  long  in  an  absorbing  and  difficult 
ifield,  will  know  that  the  word  in  this  connection  meant  only 
the  light  that  breaks  upon  one's  mind,  in  the  solution  of  some 
difficulty  as  the  result  of  earnest  effort ;  and  for  a  critic  to  make 
from  this  a  charge  that  I  allege  the  cipher  work  to  be  one  of 
inspiration  on  my  part  is  such  a  misuse  of  terms  as  to  be  wholly 

134 


unjustifiable.  I  think  I  have  the  right  to  complain  when  the 
word  so  used  is  made  the  basis  of  sneering  attack  through  the 
public  press.  The  word  was  used  bj  me  in  no  other  connection, 
and  as  my  critics  must  know,  in  no  other  than  this  very  harmless 
and  allowable  sense.  This  is  particularly  in  reply  to  a  lengthy 
editorial  in  the  Times,  which  assumed  that  I  made  claims  to 
"inspiration." 

Those  who  have  read  my  book  carefully  will  recall  some  of 
the  difficulties  recounted  on  page  11  of  the  Introduction,  re- 
lating to  a  subject  that  has  puzzled  many  students — i.e.,  the 
wrong  paging  of  the  Folio  and  some  of  the  other  old  books. 
It  is  told  in  few  words  in  the  book,  but  they  are  totally  inade- 
quate to  describe  the  strain  upon  eyes  and  nerves  in  those  days 
of  alternating  struggle  and  elation  as  one  by  one  the  difficulties 
were  overcome.  I  think  my  readers  will  pardon  a  careless,  per- 
haps irrevelant  use  of  the  term,  "I  sometimes  think  inspiration" 
— may  have  prompted  me  to  make  one  more  trial. 

Mr.  Lang  and  Mrs.  Gallup. 

I  am  also  desired  to  refer  to  the  writings  of  Mr.  Lang, 
who,  on  several  occasions,  has  made  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  the 
theme  of  much  ironical  pleasantry,  more  especially  in  the 
Monthly  Revieiv.  Mr.  Lang  is  one  of  those  happy  individuals 
possessed  of  a  large  vocabulary  and  of  a  vivid  imagination  that 
like  Tennyson's  babbling  brook  "goes  on  for  ever,"  but  he  pre- 
fers the  interrogation  to  the  period — questions  more  than  he 
asserts. 

In  the  Monthly  Revieiv  he  cites  again,  from  his  Morning 
Post  article  (August  1901),  some  of  the  reasons  for  considering 
Bacon  a  lunatic.  He  has,  however,  omitted  one  query  then  made 
regarding  "the  new  Atlantis  men  sought  beyond  the  western 
sea:"  "Was  Bacon  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  America  was  dis- 
covered ?"  The  question  was  not  repeated  after  I  called  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  in  New  Atlantis  Bacon  said,  "Wee 
sailed  from  Peru." 

The  Alpha  and  Omega  of  his  article — since  it  appears  on 
the  first  page  and  the  last — is  Mr.  Sidney  Lee's  declaration 
that  the  cipher  cannot  exist  in  the  books  in  which  I  hnoui  it 
does  exist.     I  pointed  out  in  a  recent  communication  to  the 

135 


Times  that  Mr.  Lee  had  not  even  understood  the  elementary 
principles  of  the  cipher.  This  is  betrayed  in  his  statement: 
"Italic  and  Koman  types  were  never  intermingled  in  the  man- 
ner which  would  be  essential  if  the  words  embodied  Bacon's 
biliteral  cipher" — for  that  is  not  the  manner  of  its  incorpora- 
tion. Mr.  Lang  goes  no  farther  than  this  very  arbitrary  decision 
in  his  examination  of  the  cipher  itself. 

He  says:  "The  consistency  of  Mrs.  Gallup  next  amazes 
us.  Greene,  Peele,  Marlowe,  and  Shakespeare,  resemble  each 
other  in  style  (or  so  she  says),  because  'one  hand  wrote  them 
all'  (i.,  p.  3).  But  Bacon  (deciphered)  avers,  'I  varied  my 
style  to  suit  different  men,  since  no  two  show  the  same  taste  and 
like  imagination.'  (i.,  p.  34)  ...  .Bacon  'let  his  own  [style] 
be  seen.'  "  Mr.  Lang  should  have  quoted  an  additional  line — 
"yet  should  [let]  my  owne  bee  seene,  as  a  third  o'  warpe  in 
my  entire  fabricke,"  and  it  would  explain  why  there  are  both 
resemblances  and  differences  in  the  style  of  those  dramatic 
works,  which  have  been  commented  upon  by  numberless  writers 
as  giving  evidence  of  collaboration  or  of  plagiarism. 

The  Wifehood  and  Motherhood  of  Elizabeth. 

Mr.  Lang  thinks  the  idea  of  the  wifehood  and  motherhood 
of  Elizabeth  originated  in  Mr.  Lee's  articles  in  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography  cited  as  corroborating  the  cipher.  The 
facts  set  forth  in  Mr.  Lee's  w^ork  are  very  good  circumstantial 
evidence,  x^ssuredly  the  statments  in  the  word-cipher  and  in  the 
bi-literal  should  accord,  for  in  Bacon's  design  the  principal  use 
of  the  one  was  to  teach,  and  assist  in  deciphering,  the  others 
Mr.  Lang  quotes:  "He  learned  from  the  interview  and  subse- 
quent occurrences,"  and  exclaims,  "  how  Elizabethan  is  the 
style !" 

In  Love's  Labours  Lost  (Act  II.,  Se.  i.)  he  may  read: 

at   which   interview 
All  liberall  reason  would  I  yeeld  unto. 

In  Troilus  and  Cressida  (Act  I.,  Sc.  iii.)  we  find: 
To  their  subsequent  volumes. 

And  in  TIeyiry  the  Fifth  (V.  Prol.)  is  the  line: 
Omit  all  the  occurrences. 

This  is  where  Mr.  Lang  should  exclaim  again,  "How  Eliza- 
bethan the  style !" 

136 


My  critics  would  find  it  interesting  and  profitable  to  learn 
how  many  expressions,  thought  to  be  modern,  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  original  works.  They  would  be  surprised — agreeably  or 
otherwise — at  the  long  list. 

''Tiddee"  ok  Bacon. 

The  next  point  is  this:  "His  name,  'Fr.  Bacon,'  is  his 
only  'by  adoption,'  "  and  in  a  footnote  Mr.  Lang  quotes :  "  'My 
name  is  Tidder,  yet  men  speak  of  me  as  Bacon.'  "  In  Bacon's 
Historie  of  the  Raigne  of  King  Henry  the  Seventh  (p.  151), 
we  find  the  name  of  the  first  reigning  Tudor  spelled  Tidder. 
The  assertion  "We  be  Tudor"  merely  shows  that  he  belonged  to 
the  Royal  house.  It  was  certainly  not  from  Robert  Dudley  that 
he  claimed  a  title  to  the  throne.  I  myself  asked,  "Why  Francis 
I.  ?"  when  this  passage  was  deciphered ;  and  the  answer  is  per- 
haps in  this — as  Elizabeth  was  "Queene  of  England,  Fraunce, 
and  Ireland,  and  of  Virginia,"  her  son  as  king  would  be  Francis 
III.  of  France  and  Francis  I.  of  England,  as  James  VI.  of 
Scotland  became  James  I.  of  England.  The  right  to  the  French 
title  is  questionable,  of  course;  but  when  the  play  of  Edward 
the  Third  has  been  deciphered  we  shall  know  how  Bacon  re- 
garded it. 

In  the  expression,  "our  law  giveth  to  the  first-borne  of  the 
royall  house  the  title  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,"  Bacon  did  not 
intend  to  say  "the  statute  giveth."  Had  he  used  custom  no  one 
would  have  cavilled,  but  custom  is  defined  in  law  as  "long-es- 
tablished practice,  or  usage,  considered  as  unwritten  laiu,  and 
resting  for  authority  on  long  consent,"  and,  even  at  that  time, 
it  had  long  been  customary  to  invest  the  eldest  son  of  the  sov- 
reign  with  this  title.  In  the  Historie  of  Henry  the  Seventh  (p. 
207),  speaking  of  the  time  when  "Henry,  Duke  of  Yorke,  was 
created  Prince  of  Wales,  and  Earle  of  Chester  and  Flint,"  he 
added,  "For  the  Dukedom  of  Cornewall  devolved  to  him  by 
statute."  We  see  per  contra  that  in  this  place  he  did  not  mean 
by  custom. 

Bacon  and  the  Small  Poems. 

As  evidence  of  the  superficiality  of  Mr.  Lang's  knowledge 
of  the  book  lie  attempts  to  criticise,  I  quote:  "In  1506,  in  his 
'Faerie  Queene,'  Bacon  grew  wilder,  in  saying  'We  were  in  good 

137 


hope  that  when  our  divers  small  poemes  might  bee  seene  in 
printed  forme,  th'  approval  o'  Lord  Leicester  might  be  gain'd !' 
The  earliest  of  the  small  Bacon-Spenser  works  used  here,  by 
Mrs.  Gallup,  is  of  1591.  Leicester  died  in  1588.  Only  a 
raving  maniac  like  Mrs.  Gallup's  Bacon  could  hope  to  please 
Leicester,  who  died  in  1588,  by  'small  poemes'  printed  in  1591, 
if  he  means  that." 

Has  Mr.  Lang  read  so  carelessly  that  he  thinks  "he  means 
that"  ?  Does  he  really  not  preceive  that  Bacon  was  speaking  of 
the  small  poems  appearing  between  1579  and  1588 — Shep- 
heards'  Calender  in  several  editions,  Virgil's  Gnat  nearly  ready 
for  the  printer  and  suggestively  dedicated  to  the  Earl  of  Leices- 
ter ?  If  a  careless  reading,  it  discredits  his  criticism ;  if  a 
wilful  perversion,  it  is  unworthy  and  without  justification. 

This  is  much  like  his  remarkable  statement  in  Longman  s 
Magazine  regarding  the  Argument  of  the  Iliad:  "The  right 
course  with  Mrs.  Gallup  is  to  ask  her  to  explain  why  or  how 
Bacon  stole  from  Pope's  Homer.  .  .  .and  how  he  could  be  (as 

he  certainly  was)  ignorant  of  facts  of  his  own  time These 

circumstances  make  it  certain  that,  though  the  cipher  may  be  a 
very  nice  cipher,  Mrs.  Gallup  must  have  interpreted  it  all 
wrong.  She  will  see  that,  she  would  have  seen  it  long  ago,  if 
she  had  read  Pope's  Homer  and  had  known  anything  about 
Elizabethan  history." 

We  all  know  what  this  impossible  charge — that  "Bacon 
stole  from  Pope's  Homer,"  and  also  the  insinuation  regard- 
ing Melville — covertly  asserts.  I  have  fully  set  out  in  another 
article  the  answer  to  this  baseless  accusation  of  Mr.  Marston; 
but  I  will  here  repeat  that  any  statement  that  I  copied  from 
Pope,  or  from  any  other  source  whatever,  in  obtaining  the  mat- 
ter put  forth  as  deciphered  from  Bacon's  works,  is  false  in  every 
particular. 

Bacon  and  Elizabeth's  Makriage. 

Mr.  Lang,  and  others,  have  asserted  that  Bacon  refers  to 
the  first  Lord  Burghley  as  Kobert.  This  is  incorrect.  Bacon 
says  Robert  Cecil  when  he  means  Robert  Cecil,  and  at  no  other 
time.  Robert  is  not  only  named,  but  described  unmistakably. 
Mr.  Lang  says,  "Robert  Cecil  was  born  in  1563,  or  thereabout, 
was  younger  than  Bacon,"  consequently  could  not  have  incited 

138 


the  Queen  against  him,  etc.,  and  devotes  a  page  to  mis-statements 
and  sarcasms.  Here  again  is  he  ignorant,  or  indulges  in  wilful 
perversion.  The  encyclopaedias  say,  ''Robert  Cecil  was  born  in 
1550."  He  was  therefore  eleven  years  older  than  Bacon,  and 
twenty-seven  years  of  age  when  the  incident  referred  to  oc- 
curred. We  learn  also  from  the  same  source:  "Of  his  cousin, 
Francis  Bacon,he  appears  to  have  been  jealous."  The  "blunder" 
is  Mr.  Lang's,  not  Bacon's,  and  it  is  not  an  evidence  that  "either 
an  ignorant  American  wrote  all  this,  or  Bacon  was  an  idiot." 

In  speaking  of  Elizabeth's  marriage,  Mr.  Lang  says,  "The 
second  was  'after  her  ascent  to  royal  power'  (1558).  Any  one 
but  Bacon  would  have  said,  'after  the  death  of  Dudley's  first 
wife,'  because  only  after  that  death  could  the  marriage  be 
legal." 

What  Bacon  really  said  is  this :  "Afte'  her  ascent  to  royale 
power,  before  my  birth,  a  second  nuptiall  rite  duly  witness'd 
was  observed,  soe  that  I  was  borne  in  holy  wedlocke"  (p.  154). 
Mr.  Lang's  opinion  of  what  any  other  man  might  have  said  is 
quite  immaterial. 

A  question  of  Bacon's  legitimacy  would,  without  a  doubt, 
have  been  raised;  and  as  Leicester  favoured  his  second  son, 
Essex,  this  may  account  for  the  express  wish  to  have  the  story 
openly  told.  Such  questions  were  debated  concerning  more 
than  one  royal  title  in  those  days,  but  Bacon  believed  his  birth 
in  holy  wedlock  was  sufficient  legitimation.  The  mere  fact 
that  both  Mary  and  Elizabeth  succeeded  to  the  throne,  although 
one  or  the  other  was  not  strictly  legitimate,  would  confirm  this 
opinion,  and  the  history  of  the  founding  of  the  line  of  Tudor 
involved  the  same  question. 

I  regret  that  lack  of  space  prevents  a  reference  to  some  of 
Mr.  Lang's  other  remarks,  which  are  equally  subject  to  criti- 
cism and  correction.  Brander  Matthews,  in  Pen  and  Ink, 
formulates  "Twelve  Rules  for  Reviewers,"  that  will,  I  am  very 
sure,  commend  themselves  to  those  who  desire  to  make  criticism 
of  value.  Had  Mr.  Lang  followed  any  of  these  rules  he  would 
have  written  in  a  different  manner  and  more  to  his  own  credit. 

Mr.  ScirooLiNG  AND  THE  Cipher. 

I  can  only  say  that  with  regard  to  Mr.  Schooling  as  with 
thousands  of  others,  defective  vision  or  superficial  examination 

139 


is  responsible  for  his  criticism,  for  it  culminates  in  the  asser- 
tion, merely,  that  different  founts  of  Italic  type  are  not  used 
in  the  books  referred  to,  and  that  the  work  "can  be  regarded  only 
as  a  phantasy  of  my  imagining,  wholly  unworthy  of  credence." 
I  again  assert,  with  that  degree  of  positiveness  which  comes 
from  a  study  of  years,  that  the  Italic  types  are  from  different 
founts  and  are  used  in  the  manner  I  have  set  forth.  There  is 
no  room  whatever  for  imagination  in  the  work. 
T~  Mr.   Schooling  enters  into  particulars,   and  reports  upon 

o's,  ns,  and  p's  in  a  few  lines  of  small  letters,  and  says  "they 
are  from  the  same  fount,  and  the  cipher,  therefore,  non-ex- 
istent." In  this  he  is  absolutely  wrong.  He  makes  no  mention 
of  the  marked  differences  in  the  capitals,  and,  too,  he  should 
have  studied  the  originals  on  many  pages,  as  I  have  done,  for  in 
the  photographic  facsimiles  of  the  book  some  of  the  distinctive 
features  are  lost.  It  is  difficult  to  describe  in  words  the  par- 
ticular lines  in  a  drawing,  and  equally  so  those  in  several  forms 
of  type,  but  I  will  attempt  to  make  the  differences  clear. 

The  Italics  in  Spenser. 

Extending  these  examples  of  Mr.  Schooling,  take  for  illus- 
tration the  Italics  in  the  first  lines  of  the  selection  from  Spenser. 
The  type  is  large  and  clear,  and  there  are  several  letters  so 
close  together  that  comparisons  can  easily  be  made. 

full  Ladie  the  La  Marie. 

There  are  two  captial  L's.  The  serif  of  the  first  is  curved, 
of  Iho  second  straight.  At  the  bottom,  the  horizontal  of  the 
first  gradually  thickens,  and  the  small  line  at  the  end  is  nearly 
vertical,  while  the  horizontal  of  the  second  is  of  even  thickness 
and  the  small  line  slanting. 

There  are  three  small  a's.  The  oval  of  the  first  is  narrow 
and  pointed  at  the  top,  those  of  the  other  two  are  broad  at  the 
top.  The  small  line  at  the  bottom  of  the  first  is  long  and  strong, 
of  the  other  two  short  and  weak. 

There  are  three  small  e's.  The  ovals  of  the  first  two  are 
broad,  the  letters  themselves  narrow;  the  oval  of  the  Inst  is 
longer  and  more  pointed,  but  the  letter  itself  is  wide. 

The  two  small  i's  do  not  stand  at  the  same  degree  of  in- 
clination, and  the  dot  of  the  first  is  slightly  to  the  left. 

140 


v/ 


The  capital  M  is  a  striking  form,  and  the  plain  M  of  that 
size  of  type  must  be  familiar  to  Mr.  Schooling  and  others. 

Taking  the  next  Italic  line,  the  small  Ji^s  are  from  different 
founts.  The  inclination  of  the  second  is  greater  than  that  of 
the  first.  The  stem  of  the  first  n  (in  Honowahle)  is  straight, 
that  of  the  second  (in  and)  is  slightly  curved.  The  small  line 
at  the  bottom  of  the  first  stands  well  under  the  downward 
stroke,  that  of  the  second  freely  leaves  the  dowmward  stroke. 

In  the  next  line,  the  difference  in  the  small  Z's  is  very 
marked,  and  one  is  much  longer  than  the  other. 

In  the  line  below,  an  e  from  the  "^'b  fount"  and  one  from 
the  '^a  fount"  stand  together  in  the  word  bee.  These  can  easily 
be  discriminated,  but  the  characteristics  of  the  e  in  this  size  of 
type  are  the  reverse  of  the  same  in  the  large  size  above. 

The  0  in  long  is  a  wider  oval  than  the  o  from  the  ''a 
fount"  in  bountifull.  It  has  already  been  pointed  out  why  the 
ns  in  both  words  are  ''a-fount"  letters,  although  the  one  in  long 
is  not  a  perfect  letter — the  lower  part  of  the  last  stroke  being 
blotted — but,  as  I  have  said  on  other  occasions,  where  broken 
or  blotted  letters  or  errors  of  the  printer  occur  in  the  original, 
the  context  will  unmistakably  indicate  what  they  are. 

The  "Novum  Organum." 

In  the  Praefatio  of  Novum  Organum,  the  first  letter  con- 
sidered is  the  small  o,  and  of  this  two  examples  given  by  Mr. 
Schooling  are  in  the  second  line — in  explorata  and  pronuntiare. 
The  longest  diameter  produced  until  it  intersects  the  line  of 
writing  does  not  make  so  large  an  angle  in  the  first  as  in  the 
second.  The  oval  is  much  narrower  in  the  first.  The  descrip- 
tion of  these  two  will  suffice  for  all  others  not  changed  by  a 
mark,  unless  a  printer's  error  occurs. 

The  two  p's  in  propria  are  most  easily  compared,  as  the 
first  is  from  the  "a  fount"  and  the  second  is  from  the  "b  fount." 
The  stem  of  the  first  is  not  quite  so  long  as  that  of  the  second ; 
and,  in  the  first,  the  oval  is  somewhat  angular  on  the  right  side 
at  the  top,  in  the  second  this  angularity  is  seen  at  tlie  bottom. 
The  same  rule  applies  to  other  cases.  Of  the  half-dozen  cited 
by  Mr,  Schooling,  I  have  merely  chosen  two  that  stand  close 
together.     He  would  find  as  great  difficulty  in  the  differentia- 

141 


;  tion  of  the  o's  and  c's  of  any  two  founts  of  modern  Italic  type, 
as  in  these  he  points  out,  for  the  differences  are  often  as  minute. 

Bacon  and  the  Compositor. 

Mr.  Schooling  says,  "Mrs.  Gallup  does  not  tell  us  liow 
Lord  Bacon  managed  to  get  his  work  set  up  by  the  compositor." 

Any  printer  will  tell  him,  if  he  will  inquire,  that  it  is  not 
more  difficult  to  take  certain  letters  that  have  been  marked  on 
the  MS.  from  one  case  of  Italic  type,  and  certain  other  letters, 
not  marked,  from  another  case  of  Italic,  than  to  take  Roman 
from  one  case  and  Italic  from  another  in  ordinary  composition. 
The  system  has  the  advantage  that  the  printer,  in  following 
copy,  could  not  know  the  cipher  without  the  key,  which  in 
I  Bacon's  case  was  withheld  until  1623 — forty-four  years  after 
the  cipher  was  invented  and  first  used. 

The  Powers  of  Imagination. 

Perhaps  I  should  thank  Mr.  Schooling  for  the  implied 
compliment  to  my  abilities  in  the  realm  of  creation ;  for  if 
not  a  deciphering,  what  is  the  alternative  ?  I  must  first  have 
conceived  the  plot  of  the  entire  fabric  of  380  pages,  its  histor- 
ical points,  statements  of  facts  not  recorded  in  history — which 
in  some  particulars  conflict  with,  in  others  supplement,  the 
records.  I  must  have  imagined  the  moanings  of  remorse  over 
the  tragedy  of  Essex ;  the  discovery  of  the  motherhood  of  Eliza- 
beth ;  guessed  at  the  broadened  field  of  Bacon's  literary  powers 
to  take  in  all  the  works  which  are  disclosed  as  coming  from 
his  hand ;  the  directions  for  writing  out  the  word-cipher ;  the 
argument  of  the  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn;  the  epitome  of  the 
Iliad  and  of  the  Odyssey ;  the  explanatory  letters  of  Dr.  Rawley 
and  Ben  Jonson  that  are  found  in  the  cipher;  the  flights  of 
fancy  which  occasionally  appear  in  the  deciphered  work,  and 
^  all  the  rest.  This  must  all  have  been  written  out  in  the  old 
English  spelling  and  in  the  language  of  Bacon's  time;  this 
previously  written  plot  and  story  in  the  main  narration  must 
have  been  fitted  to  the  exact  number  of  Italic  letters,  and  so 
arranged  that  the  forms  of  the  capital  letters  and  those  whose 
differences  are  easily  perceived,  must  in  every  case  fit  into 
place  as  an  a  or  a  h,  so  that  those  letters,  at  least,  should  con- 
sistently follow  Bacon's  biliteral  cipher.     The  simple  enumer- 

142 


ation,  with  all  that  these  things  imply,  carries  the  refutation 
of  the  possibility  of  such  a  manner  of  production,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  absurdity  of  attempting  it.  Had  it  been  undertaken, 
it  would  have  been  along  lines  that  were  better  known,  and 
statments  of  facts  would  have  been  in  accord  with  the  records. 
Historical  romance  would  never  so  far  have  transcended  the 
beliefs  of  the  world,  nor  subverted  all  previous  ideas  concern- 
ing authorship  of  literature  which  will  be  immortal.  The  only 
reason  for  the  book's  existence  is  that  it  is  the  transcription 
of  a  cipher  placed  in  the  works  for  the  purposes  disclosed  by 
its  decipherment. 


143 


BACOX— SHAKESPEAEE. 

The  Times^  London^  Eng.,  Jan.  27,  1902. 

To  THE  Editor  of  the  Times: 

Sir, — Your  issues  of  December  19,  20,  and  21  have  been 
forwarded  to  me  bj  Messrs.  Gay  and  Bird,  and,  while  regret- 
ting that  distance  will  cause  much  time  to  elapse  between 
the  issues  and  the  time  this  can  reach  London,  I  yet  desire 
space  to  reply  to  the  communications  of  Mr.  Marston  and  Mr. 
Lee  concerning  myself,  and  the  book  recently  given  to  the  pub- 
lic, "The  Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon/'  I  trust  I 
may  not  be  refused  because  of  lapse  of  time,  or  for  any  other 
reason. 

I  hope  the  gentlemen  do  not  mean  to  be  rude  or  do  me  an 
injustice,  and  I  do  not  think  they  can  persist  in  the  character- 
ization which  their  words  imply. 

The  assertion  that  Mr.  Mallock  has  become  "addlepated," 
because  of  thinking  there  may  be  something  in  the  cipher,  must 
be  something  of  a  shock  to  his  friends. 

Mr.  Marston  did  me  the  honour  of  two  favourable  notices, 
in  succeeding  issues  of  the  Publishers'  Circular.  I  was  about 
to  thank  him  for  numbers  sent  to  me  when  I  learned  that  he 
had  prepared  and  published  an  elaborate  article  attempting  to 
discredit  the  entire  work,  because  of  doubts  arising  in  his  mind 
upon  a  single  point.  He  does  not  base  his  disbelief  upon  any 
investigation  he  has  made  of  the  cipher  itself,  but  because  a 
fragment  which  forms  a  part  of  Bacon's  ''Argument"  or 
epitome  (but  not  the  full  translation)  of  the  Iliad,  in  that  por- 
tion which  catalogues  the  ships  and  the  troops  they  transported, 
is  similar — "nearly  like" — Pope's  translation  of  the  same  pas- 
sages, ergo,  it  must  be  that  I  paraphrased  Pope,  and  hence  that 
the  whole  cipher  fabric  is  tumbled  into  dust.  Because  of  this 
similarity  he  takes  Mr.  Mallock  to  task  for  considering  my 
work  seriously,  and  declares  that,  as  I  have,  as  he  thinks,  copied 
Pope  in  this,  the  results  of  my  four  years'  research  in  America 

144 


and  in  England,  set  down  on  385  printed  pages,  must  be  pure 
invention,  and  Mr.  Mallock  a  poor  deluded  mortal  to  have  gone 
into  the  cipher  at  all.  The  statement  of  the  case  exhibits  the 
value  of  the  conclusion. 

It  does  not  appear  just  how  much  variation  Mr.  Marston 
would  have  between  the  translations  of  the  identical  Greek 
text,  describing  definite  things,  to  prove  which  was  the  correct 
one,  and  which  the  copy.  It  will  also  be  noted  that  this  is  not 
one  of  the  portions  of  Homer's  wondrous  story  where  imagina- 
tion may  run  riot,  and  imagery  and  poetic  license  add  lustre  to 
the  original. 

The  claim  of  identities  set  me  to  wondering  whom  else 
I  might  have  paraphrased,  or  if  it  was  not  possible  that  Pope 
had  copied  from  some  one  other  than  Bacon.  An  examination 
of  six  different  English  translations  and  one  Latin  shows  me 
such  substantial  accord,  that  either  of  them  could  be  called 
with  equal  justice  a  paraphrase  of  Pope,  or  that  Pope  had 
copied  from  the  others. 

Tn  i)]irasing  no  two  translations  of  the  Iliad  entirely  agree, 
but  are  we  to  conclude  that,  because  the  translations  of  the  same 
text  are  in  substantial  agreement  (though  not  exact),  that  one 
of  the  two  most  nearly  alike  must  be  a  paraphrase?  The 
trifling  additions  showing  some  exterior  knowledge  of  persons 
and  places  may  be  found  in  Bacon's  other  works. 

It  will  be  observed  by  readers  of  the  " Bi-literal  Cypher" 
that  the  fragment  of  the  Fourth  Book  of  the  Iliad  which  is 
injected  by  Bacon  into  the  "Argument"  is  for  ilkistration 
merely,  and  is  clearly  stated  to  be  only  "  a  supreme  effort  of 
memory"  of  the  fuller  translation  which  he  had  previously 
embedded  as  a  part  of  the  mosaic  in  his  works,  to  be  extracted 
and  reconstructed  through  the  methods  of  another  cipher. 

Surely  there  can  be  no  more  distressing  condition  than 
when  critics  refuse  to  know  all  the  facts,  and  are  guilty  of 
drawing  conclusions  without  them.  Bacon,  who  knew  human 
nature,  has  described  this  class  of  minds  most  precisely  in  his 
aphorisms,  and  it  would  almost  seem  he  had  this  controversy 


145 


in  view,   or  at  least   a   permonition  of  it,   when  he   says,   in 
^Number  xxxiii : — 

"This  must  be  plainly  avowed;  no  judgment  can  be  rightly 
formed  either  of  my  method  or  of  the  discoveries  to  which  it  leads 
by  means  of  anticipations. ..  .since  I  cannot  be  called  upon  to  abide 
by  the  sentence  of  a  tribunal  which  is  itself  on  its  trial." 

"One  method  of  delivery  alone  remains  to  us:.... we  must  lead 
men  to  the  particulars  themselves  and  their  series  and  order;  while 
men  on  their  side  must  force  themselves  for  awhile  to  lay  their 
notions  by  and  begin  to  familiarize  themselves  with  facts."    (XXXVI.) 

Mr.  Lee,  too,  bases  his  disbelief  on  most  inconclusive 
grounds.  The  witty  author  of  "Democritus  to  the  Reader" 
said  that  any  one  wlio  sought  what  he  did  not  want,  or  that 
would  do  him  harm  when  found,  wanted  wisdom.  To  be  exact, 
it  was  expressed  less  euphemistically,  ''He  is  a  fool  that  seeks 
what  he  does  not  want." 

Mr.  Lee  insists  that,  because  he  has  collated  25  copies  of 
the  plays,  during  which  time  he  was  not  looking  for  a  cipher, 
none  exists.  As  well  say  that  the  stars  of  late  discovery  which 
are  as  yet  unknown  to  any  but  the  most  skilled  eye  of  the 
astronomer  do  not  exist  because  Mr.  Lee,  with  his  unskilled 
eye,  has  not  discovered  them  while  looking  for  something  else. 

Mr.  Sinnett,  in  the  same  issue  of  The  Tmies,  states  the 
case  fairly  in  the  remark  that  there  are  two  schools  of  thinkers 
on  the  subject — those  who  have  studied  the  matter,  and  those 
who  have  not — and  he  illustrates  the  feelings  of  a  surprisingly 
large  class  by  the  repetition  of  the  remark  of  a  friend,  who, 
when  asked  if  he  had  seriously  considered  certain  points  (of  the 
Baconians),  replied:  "I  would  rather  hang  myself  than  con- 
sider anything  so  atrocious."  I  have  no  doubt  Mr.  Lee  would 
sympathize  with,  if  not  echo,  this  sentiment. 

I  wish  politely,  and  with  all  due  deference,  to  assert,  with 
a  positiveness  as  emphatic  as  that  of  Mr.  Lee,  that  the  cipher 
does  exist  in  the  typography  of  the  Plays,  and  in  tlie  ''Anatomy 
of  Melancholy"  and  in  the  other  works  which  I  have  deci- 
phered. The  difference  between  us  is  that  I  found  what  I  was 
looking  for  (and  much  besides),  while  Mr.  Lee  did  not  find 
what  he  was  not  lookins;  for. 


146 


Another  aphorism,  ;N"umber  xxxviii.,  would  apply  here : — 

"The  idols  and  false  notions  which  are  now  in  possession  of  the 
human  understanding,  and  have  taken  deep  root  therein,  so  beset 
men's  minds  that  truth  can  hardly  find  entrance." 

And  again,  in  Number  xlvi: — 

"The  human  understanding  when  it  has  once  adopted  an  opinion 
(either  as  being  the  received  opinion  or  as  being  agreeable  to  itself) 
draws  all  things  else  to  support  and  agree  with  it.  And  though  there 
be  a  greater  weight  of  instances  to  be  found  on  the  other  side,  yet 
these  it  either  neglects  and  despises,  or  else  by  some  distinction 
sets  aside  and  rejects,  in  order  that  by  this  great  and  pernicious 
predetermination  the  authority  of  its  former  conclusions  may  remain 
inviolate." 

If  Mr.  Lee  has  a  vision  sufficiently  accurate  to  discrimi- 
nate in  form,  and  will  spend  as  much  time  as  I  have  spent 
upon  the  typography  of  the  old  books,  he  will  find  the  letters 
can  be  classified,  and  starting  from  the  proper  points  and  plac- 
ing in  "groups  of  five"  the  Bi-literal  Cipher  will  read  as  I  have 
written,  and  will  not  read  anything  else. 
Sincerely  yours, 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 
Detroit,  January  9. 


P.  S.  Jan.  11. — Copies  of  your  issue  of  December  26 
and  27  have  just  reached  me. 

The  articles  on  the  "Bacon  Bi-literal  Cypher"  show  that 
The  Times  is  not  averse  to  whatever  aids  in  elucidation  of  this 
new  phase  of  the  Bacon-Shakespeare  question. 

I  am  glad  to  note  that  "A  Correspondent"  has  taken 
some  of  the  preliminary  steps  to  an  actual  examination  of  the 
cipher  and  apparently  has  the  perception  required  to  reach 
conclusions  that  Mr.  Mallock  and  Mr.  Sinnett  have  also  reached 
as  to  distinctive  variations  in  the  fonns  of  letters  used  in  the 
old  books.  This  denotes  real  progress  in  the  investigation,  and 
I  think  the  gentleman,  with  patience,  would  easily  become  a 
decipherer.  The  peculiarities  of  the  type  are  clear  to  the  skilled 
artist  or  engraver,  but  they  are  not  so  quickly  apparent  to  those 
less  fitted  for  the  closest  observation. 

Some  of  the  difficulties  encountered  by  the  novice  are 
explained  by  Mr.  Sinnett  in  the  issue  of  the  27th.  I  shall  be 
greatly  pleased  to  clear  up  some  of  this  correspondent's  diffi- 

147 


culties,  in  another  communication,  but  will  only  note  in  this 

two  paragraphs.     One  difficulty  he  mentions  is  that  in  certain 

passages  he  does  not  find  sufficient  Italic  letters  to  make  up 

the  extracted  sentences.      He  had  overlooked   the   application 

of  the  passage  in  the  book,  on  pp.  66-67 : — 

"In  order  to  conceale  my  Cypher  more  perfectly  I  am  preparing 
for  th'  purpose  a  sette  of  alphabets  in  th'  Latine  tipe  not  for  use 
in  th'  greatest  or  lengthy  story  or  epistle,  but  as  another  disguise, 
for,  in  ensample,  a  prologue,  praefatio,  the  epilogues,  and  head  lines 
attracted  too  much  notice.  I,  therefore,  have  given  much  trouble  to 
mine  ayders  by  making  two  kinds  or  formes  of  these  letters.  These 
be  not  designed  for  other  use  than  hath  but  now  beene  explain'd,  nor 
must  you  looke  to  see  them  employ'd  if  a  reason  for  th'  change 
appeare,  but  there  will  be  warning  given  you  for  your  instruction  or 
guidance.  Noe  othe'  waie  of  diverting  th'  curious  could  be  used  where 
th'  exteriour  epistle  is  but  briefe.  however  it  will  not  thus  turn  aside 
my  decipherer,  for  his  eye  is  too  well  practs'd  in  artes  that  easily 
misleade  others  who  enquire  of  th'  waie." 

There  are  a  very  few  dedications,  commendatory  poems, 
headings,  etc.,  in  which  Roman  letters  were  used  by  Bacon. 
These  are  in  his  later  printings. 

Another  thing  this  correspondent  makes  note  of  is  that 
many  of  the  old  books  of  the  Elizabethan  period  have  the  same 
differences.  I  have  examined  many  of  these,  beside  those 
belonging  to  Bacon  in  which  differences  occur.  In  some  of 
them  I  was  led  to  think  the  cipher  might  be  found,  but  on 
examination  it  was  seen  that  the  different  forms  were  used 
promiscuously,  without  method,  and  could  not  be  grouped  in 
fives  to  read  in  the  bi-literal. 

Replying  to  Mr.  Lee's  communication  in  the  issue  of  the 

27th,  I  quote  this  extraordinary  extract: 

"I  should  like  to  state  unmistakably  that  I  hold  there  to  be 
not  the  smallest  jot  of  even  prima  facie  justification....  in  the  text 
of  the  First  Folio  for  the  belief  that  a  cipher  is  concealed   in  that 

volume.     I  write  with  a  fine  copy  on  my  desk Italic  and  Roman 

type  appear  in  the  preliminary  pages ....  they  are  never  intermingled 
in  the  manner  which  would  be  essential  if  the  words  embodied  Bacon's 
bi-literal  cipher." 

His  idea  of  the  intermingling  of  the  Roman  and  Italic 
type  as  an  essential  is  entirely  wrong.  If  he  had  read  my 
book  understandingly,  he  would  have  known  the  different 
founts  used  by  Bacon  were  in  the  differing  forms  of  Italic  type, 
not  the  Roman,  except  in  the  very  few  instances  noted  above. 
The  cipher  letters  are  not  produced  by  intermingling  Roman 


148 


and  Italic  type  in  the  Plays.  He  will  find  on  every  page  of 
the  Plays  more  than  one  fount  or  form  of  these  Italic  letters, 
and  that  not  proper  names  only,  but  much  besides  was  printed 
in  them.     See  especially  pp.  42-43,  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 

Quoting  again  from  Mr.  Lee : — "To  assert  that  a  bi-literal 
cipher  can  or  does  appear  in  a  text  printed  as  the  Pirst  Folio  is 
printed  is  a  bold  denial  of  plain  facts."  I  wish  to  repeat,  with 
jequal  earnestness  and  entire  certainty,  that  to  assert  that  the 
cipher  cannot  and  does  not  exist  in  the  text  is  a  denial  of  a 
fact  which  I  have  demonstrated. 

He  mistakenly  says,  "The  proper  names  figuring  in  the 
text  of  the  plays  alone  appear  in  a  different  type."  To  these 
must  be  added  the  abbreviated  names  of  the  speakers,  the  run- 
ning titles,  etc.,  and  all  other  words  in  Italic  type,  which 
together  make  uj)  when  deciphered  over  50  pages  of  my  book 
that  are  extracted  from  the  folio. 

What  shall  we  say  of  this  quotation  from  Mr.  Lee  ? 

"Ignorance,  vanity,  inability  to  test  evidence,  lack  of  scholarly 
habits  of  mind  are  in  each  of  these  instances  found  to  be  the  main 
causes  predisposing  half-educated  members  of  the  public  to  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  delusion  (!).  And  when  any  of  the  deluded  victims 
have  been  narrowly  examined  they  have  invariably  exhibited  a  tend- 
ency  to    monomania May    a    second    Hogarth    deal    as    effectually 

with  Mrs.  Gallup  and  Mr.  Mallock,  and  their  feeble-witted  followers." 

Mr.  Mallock  "addlepated !"  and  "half -educated!"  Lord 
Palmerston  "feeble-witted" — "with  a  tendency  to  monomania  !" 
Is  this  temperate  discussion  of  a  new  discovery  ?  Is  true  criti- 
cism of  this  subject  and  its  believers  reduced  to  vituperation, 
and  this  the  end  of  the  argument  ? 

The  public  will  refuse  to  accept  Mr.  Lee's  dictum  as 
having  any  weight  at  all  over  against  the  examination  made, 
and  being  made,  by  Mr.  Mallock,  Mr.  Sinnett,  and  many  others. 
I  must  assume  them  to  be  the  peers  of  Mr.  Lee  in  intelligence 
and  discrimination,  for  he  is  most  surely  wrong  and  refuses 
knowledge,  while  they  are  willing  to  study  the  subject  with 
patience  and  candour. 


149 


LITERARY  WORLD. 
London. 

To  The  Editor. 

Sir: — There  is  a  sense  of  relief  after  the  worst  has  been 
said,  in  the  assurance  that  nothing  more  dreadful  can  be  ex- 
pected. Since  the  "critic"  of  the  Literary  World  has  consigned 
me  to  that  Avernus  whose  horrors  all  good  people  hope  to  es- 
cape, I  should  be  beyond  attack,  as  none  would  willingly  follow 
me  into  the  infernal  regions. 

After  reading  the  article  entitled  Galluping  in  Avernum, 
my  eyes  fell  upon  a  clipping  in  which  George  Brandes  is  named 
as  the  "famous  Danish  critic,  and  the  greatest  of  living  Shake- 
spearean commentators."  It  says:  "He  dismisses  the  whole 
'Baconian  Craze'  with  the  remark  that  it  is  on  the  one  hand  a 
piece  of  weak  and  inartistic  feminine  criticism,  and  on  the 
other  an  Americanism  and  therefore  lacking  in  spiritual  del- 
icacy." 

The  criticism  in  the  Literary  World  of  Bacon's  Bi-literal 
Cypher  and  of  the  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn  is  not,  I  think, 
feminine  nor  American,  but  somehow  the  quality  of  spiritual 
delicacy  seems  lacking,  and  it  can  hardly  be  called  artistic. 

It  is  only  recently  that  I  have  noticed — this  rule  has  not 
reached  America — that  some  writers  apparently  think  it  is 
good  form  to  pun,  or  play,  upon  another's  surname.  If  the 
name  is  not  pleasing  to  the  ear,  the  mortal  who  bears  it  has 
perhaps  a  lifelong  affliction,  yet  it  is  certainly  a  misfortune 
rather  than  a  fault.  ISTor  did  I  suppose,  until  I  saw  the  articles 
of  a  large  number  of  reviewers,  that  any — except  writers  more 
intent  on  filling  space  than  careful  of  the  value  of  the  matter — 
rushed  into  print  before  the  subject  discussed,  or  book  reviewed 
was  half  read.  And  yet  it  is  this  critic's  own  confession,  re- 
garding the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  that  he  has  read  but  "half  the 
book,  and  a  few  scattered  sentences  of  the  rest."  From  this 
admittedly  superficial  reading  he  concludes  a  "Phantom  per- 

150 


sonating  Bacon  claims  to  have  written  all  the  plays"  etc. — the 
literature  throughout  which  the  ciphers  have  with  infinite  pains 
been  traced,  and  the  principles  upon  which  they  are  based, 
the  keys  and  directions  for  their  decipherment,  ascertained 
and  set  out  in  the  work  he  attempts  to  criticise. 

After  quoting  the  statement  that  Elizabeth  and  Dudley 
were  honorably  married,  and  that  Bacon  and  Essex  were  the 
issue  of  this  union,  our  critic  asks,  "when  were  Elizabeth  and 
Leicester  again  married  V  This  is  answered  in  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher  (p.  154). 

A  little  farther  on  critic  says:  "//  there  had  been  a  mar- 
riage, which  there  wasn't,  sometime  in  the  four  months  between 
Lady  Dudley's  (Amy  Robsart's)  death  and  (the  supposed) 
Bacon's  birth,  it  would  have  legitimated  Bacon ;  but  then  he 
would  not  have  been  a  Tudor  but  a  Dudley." 

Bacon  evidently  considered  himself  legitimated  by  "this 
second  nuptial  rite,"  and  when  he  wrote,  probably  knew  quite 
as  much  of  the  law,  and  of  the  time  the  marriage  took  place, 
as  our  critic.  It  was  not  descent  from  Dudley  that  made  him 
prince.  Long-established  custom  was  the  law  that  gave  "to 
the  first  borne  of  the  sovereign  the  title  of  Prince  of  Wales." 

Our  critic  makes  a  point  of  the  use  and  spelling  of  Brittain 
and  of  the  expression  Hn  the  throne,'  quoting:  "Ended  now 
is  my  great  desire  to  sit  in  the  British  throne." 

In  the  Advancement  of  Learning   (1605)   he  may  read: 

"Queene  Elizabeth,  your  immediate  Predecessor  in  this  part  of 

Brittaine  (B.  1,  p.  36)  ;  while  in  Shakespeare  he  will  find: 

"Shall  see  me  rising  in  my  throne," R.  II.   3-2; 

"When  I  do  rouse  me  in  my  throne," H.  V.  1-2; 

"But  one  imperious  in  another's  throne," 1  H.  VI.  3-1; 

"In  that  throne 
"Vhich  now  the  house  of  I^ancaster  usurps,".  ..  .3  H.  VI.  1-1; 
'  nd  shall  I  stand,  and  thou  sit  in  my  throne?".  .3  H.  VI.  1-1; 

"And  see  him  seated  in  the  regal  throne," 3  H.  VI.  4-3; 

"Once  more  we  sit  in  England's  royal  throne, "..3  H.  VI.  5-7; 
"And  plant  your  joys  in  living  Edward's  throne,".  .R.  III.  2-2; 

"We  will  plant  some  other  in  the  throne," R.  III.  3-7; 

"You  are  but  newly  planted  in  your  throne," T,  A.  1-1; 

"My  bosom's  lord  sits  lightly  in  his  throne," R.  &  J.  5-1 

Our  critic  lias  not  read  his  Shakespeare  well,  if  lie  thinks 
the  term  unusual  in  Bacon's  time. 


151 


*- 


He  also  objects  to  the  phrase,  '^Every  land  in  which  the 
English  language  hath  a  place."  Bacon  wrote  his  cipher  his- 
tory to  be  read,  when  deciphered,  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
The  reference  to  our  colonies,  etc.,  was  a  prophecy  more  than 
half  realized  even  then,  and  he  claimed  for  Elizabeth  command 
of  the  sea  which  he  called  a  "universal  monarchy." 

Critic  again  quotes:  "We  spent  our  greatest  labours  in 
making  cyphares'  (a  noble  occupation!)"  Certainly,  and  a 
natural  one  when  seeking  means  of  communicating  important 
matters.  Some  one  has  suggested  that  instead  of  committing 
his  secret  history  to  ciphers,  he  should  have  Avritten  it  out  and 
confided  the  papers  to  the  keeping  of  trusted  literary  execu- 
tors. But  that  would  have  been  the  action  of  mature  years, 
or  of  one  who  believed  he  was  about  to  leave  this  life.  Bacon 
then  was  an  eager  youth,  hardly  yet  upon  the  threshold  of 
manhood,  and  he  believed  his  claims  would  ultimately  be  ac- 
knowledged. As  to  the  nobleness  of  the  occupation,  Bacon 
says  of  it:  "These  Arts  (cyphers)  being  here  placed  with  the 
principal  and  supreame  Sciences,  seeme  petty  thinges:  yet  to 
such  as  have  chosen  them  to  spende  their  labours  studies  in 
them,  they  seem  great  Matters" — Adv.  of  Learn.  B.  2,  p.  61. 
(1605). 

Our  critic  states :  "To  the  real  Bacon  Elizabeth's  move- 
ments in  January  1560-1  would  have  been  known." 

To  an  infant  of  days?  That  is  very  good.  These  things 
became  known  to  him  in  the  way  he  states. 

Again,  "Robert  Cecil,  at  the  period  referred  to,  was  about 
fourteen  years  of  age."  Critic  must  have  copied  this  from 
Mr.  Andrew  Lang  who  makes  the  same  mistake.  The  encyclo- 
paedias give  the  date  of  Robert  Cecil's  birth  as  1550.  He  was 
therefore  eleven  years  older  than  Bacon  and  about  twenty-seven 
years  of  age  when.  Bacon  says,  he  caused  the  tempestuous  scene 
that  resulted  in  the  disclosure  to  Francis  that  he  was  the  son 
of  the  Queen. 

Then,  "Hamlet  was  not  in  1611  a  new  play." 

Could  Bacon  record  in  the  types  of  a  play  then  appearing 
for  the  first  time,  that  it  had  "breasted  the  wave  gallantly  ?" 
Whatever  the  play  or  whenever  it  was  "new,"  it  could  not  be 
the  1611  edition  of  Hamlet. 

152 


The  critic  further  says :  "For  Bacon's  style  we  know — com- 
pact, well-built,  grammatical,  lucid;  no  feeble  tautology,  dilu- 
tions, or  repetitions ;  harmonious,  and  satisfying  to  the  ear ; 
pregnant  with  meaning,  and  grateful  to  the  intellect.  But  what 
about  the  Phantoms  ?  Here  we  find  clumsy  and  sprawling 
sentences  of  half  a  page,  or  nearly,  with  shambling  subordinate 
clauses  'spatch-cocked'  in  between  brackets  or  dashes"  etc. 

Refer  again  to  the  Advancement  of  Leanmig  (1605)  : 

"Antonius  Pius,  who  succeeded  him,  was  a  Prince  ex- 
cellently learned;  and  had  the  Patient  and  subtile  witte  of  a 
Schoole  man:  insomuch  as  in  common  speech,  (which  leaves 
no  vertue  untaxed)  hee  was  called  Cyniini  Sector,  a  carver,  or 
a  divider  of  Comine  seede,  which  is  one  of  the  least  seedes: 
such  a  patience  hee  had  and  setled  spirite,  to  enter  into  the 
least  and  most  exact  differences  of  causes;  a  fruit  no  doubt  of 
the  exceeding  tranquillitie,  and  serenitie  of  his  minde:  which 
being  no  wayes  charged  or  incombred,  either  with  feares,  re- 
morses, or  scruples,  but  having  been  noted  for  a  man  of  the 
purest  goodnesse  without  all  fiction  or  affectation,  that  raigned 
or  lived:  made  his  minde  continually  present  and  entier:  he 
likewise  approached  a  degree  neerer  unto  Christianitie,  and 
became  as  Agrippa  sayd  unto  S.  Paule,  Halfe  a  Christian; 
holding  their  Religion  and  Law  in  good  opinion:  and  not  only 
ceasing  persecution,  but  giving  way  to  the  advancement  of 
Christians."    (B.  1,  p.  35). 

"Compact,  well-built,  lucid,"  "satisfying  to  the  ear,"  "'not 
clumsy,  sprawling  sentences  of  half  a  page" — and  yet  here  is 
nearly  a  page  before  Bacon  completed  his  period,  and  what 
about  imity  of  subject? 

And  again  from  the  same  work: 

"In  which  kind  I  cannot  but  mencion  Honoris  causa  your 
Maiesties  exellent  book  touching  the  duty  of  a  king:  a  woorke 
ritchlye  compounded  of  Divinity  Morality  and  Policy,  with 
great  aspersion  of  all  other  artes:  &  being  in  myne  opinion 
one  of  the  moste  sound  &  healthful  writings  that  I  have  read : 
not  distempered  in  the  heat  of  invention  nor  in  the  Couldnes 
of  negligence :  not  sick  of  Dusinesse  as  those  are  who  leese  them- 
selves in  their  order ;  nor  of  Convulsions  as  those  which  Crampe 
in  matters  impertinent;  not  savoring  of  perfumes  &  paintings 
as  those  doe  who  seek  to  please  the  Reader  more  than  Xature 

163 


beareth,  and  chiefelye  wel  disposed  in  the  spirits  thereof, 
beeing  agreeable  to  truth,  and  apt  for  action:  and  farre  re- 
mooved  from  that  Xatural  infirmity,  whereunto  I  noted  those, 
that  write  in  their  own  professions  to  be  subject,  which  is,  that 
they  exalt  it  above  measure."  (B.  1,  2d  p.  69). 

I  quote  again: 

'This  kinde  of  degenerate  learning  did  chiefely  raigne 
amongst  the  Schoole-men,  who  having  sharpe  and  stronge  wits, 
and  aboundance  of  leasure,  and  smal  varietie  of  reading;  but 
their  with  being  shut  up  in  the  Cels  of  a  few  Authors  (chiefely 
Aristotle  their  Dictator)  as  their  persons  were  shut  up  in  the 
Cells  of  Monasteries  and  Colledges,  and  knowing  little  Historic, 
either  of  Nature  or  time,  did  out  of  no  great  quantitie  of  mat- 
ter, and  infinite  agitation  of  wit,  spin  out  unto  us  those  labori- 
ous webbes  of  Learning  which  are  extant  in  their  Bookes," 
(B.  1,  2d  p.  18). 

In  eleven  lines  we  are  told  that  'this  kind  of  learning  did 
reign  among  schoolmen  who  did  spin  out  to  us  those  webs  of 
learning  extant  in  their  books.' 

Many  such  examples  could  be  quoted,  but  these  will  suffice 
to  show  that  this  critic  has  not  read  Bacon  well  even  in  modern 
editions,  and  not  at  all  in  the  old  English  of  the  original  edi- 
tions. So  slightly  familiar  is  he  with  the  great  author,  that 
he  has  failed  to  discriminate  betwen  the  compact,  forceful 
style  of  the  Essays  and  Apothegms  and  the  "clumsy,  sprawling 
sentences,"  of  his  scientific  works — a  variation  in  the  manner 
of  writing  so  marked  that  one  might  think  these  were  not 
from  the  same  pen. 

Mr.  Candler  has  kindly  replied  to  the  objection  to  tlie 
sentence,  "Such  things  dotli  burn,"  but  I  will  add  other  in- 
stances :  "Which  Religion  and  the  holy  faith  doth  conduct  men 
unto"  (A.  of  L.  B.  2,  4th  p.  69)  ;  "which  the  example  and 
countenance  of  twoo  so  learned  Princes.  .  .  .hath  wrought" 
(A.  of  L.  B.  1,  p.  11)  ;  "like  Ants  which  is  a  wise  creature  for 
itself"  (B.  2,  stp.  93). 

Our  critic  next  quotes :  "  'Whilst  writing  these  interior 
works  these  keies  and  joining  words  did  deter  [it  means  retard'] 
th'  advancement'  (pretty,  to  see  keys  and  words  writing)." 

On  page  26  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning  Bacon  says: 
"For  I   am  not  ignorant  howe  much  that  diverteth   and   in- 

154 


ierruptetli  the  prosecution  and  advancement  of  knowledge" ; 
and  on  page  27,  "which  hath  not  onely  given  impediment  to 
the  pro  Science  of  Learning." 

Preceding  examples  have  shown  want  of  unity  in  the  sub- 
ject, but  I  will  give  an  additional  illustration  to  follow  "whilst 
writing  these  interior  works"  etc.  It  is  this:  "Hearing  that 
joii  are  at  leisure  to  peruse  Stories  a  desire  took  me  to  make  an 
Experiment,  (Letter  to  the  King). 

A  little  farther  on  the  critic  states:  "Especially  careful 
is  the  real  Bacon  in  the  use  of  the  present  conditional,  (if,  lest, 
tlio')  it  he,  &c. ;  but  here  we  sometimes  find  may  stuck  in, — 
'Dread  lest  our  secret  history  may  be  found  out' ;  'ere  the  pleas- 
ure may  disappear,  '  "  &c. 

In  a  letter  to  Essex  (1598)  the  critic  will  find:  "If  the 
main  conditions  may  be  good." 

And  again:  "Sometimes  a  future  indicative,  'If  it  shall 
not  be  (for  he  not)  found.'  " 

In  a  letter  to  the  King  we  have :  "If  it  shall  he  deprived" ; 
in  A.  of  L.  (p.  5)  "if  any  man  shall  thinke," 

Again :  "Many  of  the  Phantom's  tautologies  are  positively 
imbecile,  e.g.:  'Fraiuently,  aye  many  a  time' ;  'a  narrative  of 
a  story' ;  'the  play  previously  named  or  mentioned' ;  'very  pleas- 
ing to  such  a  degree' ;  'a  most  cleare  playne  ensample' ;  'fidmin'd 
lightning' ;  'a  coming  people  in  the  future' ;  and  the  like." 

In  the  History  of  Ifeiiry  the  Seventh  is  the  peculiar  com- 
bination, "then  a  young  Youth"  (p.  247)  ;  and  in  the  Ad- 
'vancement  of  Learning  (1605)  these  lines:  'True  hounds  and 
limitations,  whereby  humane  knowledge  is  confined  and  rir- 
cumscrihed:  and  jet  without  any  such  contraction  or  coarcta- 
tion"; 'being  steeped  and  infused  in  the  humors  of  the  affec- 
tions"; "not  referred  to  the  good  of  Men  and  Maiikind"  (p. 
5)  ;  'let  men  endeavour  an  endlesse  progresse  or  proficiencc  in 
both .  .  .  and  again  that  they  doe  not  unwisely  mingle  or  con 
found  these  learnings  togetlier"  (p.  6)  ;  "the  accuser  of  Socrates 
layd  it  as  an  Article  of  charge  k  accusation  against  him";  "and 
to  suppresse  trutli  l)v  force  of  eloquence  and  speech" ;  "there 
hath  beene  a  meeting,  and  concurrence"  (p.  7)  ;  'the  modern 
loosenes  or  negligence ;"  'it  is  a  thing  personall  and  individ- 
ual";  'have  an  influence  and  operation"  (p.  13)  ;  'to  pierce 
and   prnptrate"    (p.   15);  ''ft  and   proper  for";   "can   taxe  or 

155 


condemme"  (1st  p.  16)  ;  "have  souglit  to  vaile  over  and  con- 
ceale"  (p.  22)  ;  "Man's  owne  individuall  l^ature  (B.  2,  p.  56)  ; 
"which  cannot  but  cease  and  stoppe  all  progression.  For  no 
perfect  discoverie  can  bee  made  uppon  a  fatte,  or  a  levell" 
(p.  34)  ;  "which  hath  been  likewise  handled.  But  howe  ?  rather 
in  a  satyre  &  Cinicaly,  then  seriously  &  'wisely  for  men 
have  rather  sought  by  wit  to  deride  and  traduce  (B.  2,  1st  p. 
TT)  ;  "being  set  doivne  and  strongly  planted  doth  judge  and 
determine  most  of  the  Controversies"  (B.  2,  p.  72)  ;  "For 
Narrations  and  Relations"  (B.  2,  p.  14)  ;  also  "But  as  for  the 
Narrations ....  they  are  either  not  true,  or  not  ]^aturall ;  and 
therefore  impertinent  for  the  Storie  of  I^^ature"  (B.  2,  2d  p.  6). 

Again  "The  real  Bacon,  as  a  pretty  good  classic,  could  not 
have  spelt  Illiad,  spirrit,  Brittain,  Citty,  instructted  &c.,  with 
doubled  consonants;  or  comon,  suferd,  &c.,  with  a  single  one; 
and  rarely,  if  ever,  did  he  adopt  that  curious  growth  of  the 
old  genitive  suffix  {-es)  — is  into  the  detached  possessive  his 
(in  imitation  of  which,  lier  came  to  be  similarly  used)  ;  yet  in 
the  Phantom's  tw^addle  instances  abound — 'Essex  his  plea' ;  'the 
author  liis  poems' ;  'the  Queen  her  crown' ;  &c.,  &c." 

In  Love's  Labours  Lost  (5-2)  Illion;  in  Troilus  and 
Cressida  (1-2)  Illium;  in  All's  Well  (3-5)  Citty;  in  Ad- 
vancement of  Learnifig  (B.  2,  p.  32)  Brittaine;  Book  2,  (p. 
18)  maner,  comonly;  (p.  36)  canot;  (p.  T4)  amogst,  comand; 
(p.  74)  comoly ;  (p.  87)  wisedom;  and  on  page  92  circurence 
(circumference) . 

In  printing  the  deciphered  work,  similar  elisions  Avhen 
they  occurred  were  marked  with  an  apostrophe,  the  modern  ab- 
breviation, rather  than  mar  the  page  with  such  seeming  errors. 

I  have  already  given  six  examples  from  the  History  of 
Henry  the  Seventh  of  the  detached  possessive  his,  and  many 
others  could  be  cited.  "A  thing  familiar  in  my  Mistris  her 
times"  occurs  in  a  letter  to  ISTorthumberland ;  "I.  S.  his  day  is 
past  and  well  past" — Letter  to  the  King  (29th  of  April,  1615). 

"It  needeth  no  proof  of  the  fact  that"  is  characterized  as 
modern  padding,  but  in  Advancement  of  Learning  we  read^ 
"where  there  is  assurance  and  cleere  evidence  of  the  fact." 

Most,  if  not  all  the  so-called  modern  expressions  that  have 
been  criticized — including  some  noted  by  another  critic — are 

1S6 


found  (mildly,  exciting,  headings),  and  in  2  H.  IV.   (1-1)  is 
the  line,  "You  cast  the  event  of  war." 

A  prominent  assertion  is  that  concerning  repetitions. 
Most  overlook  the  fact  that  the  cipher  narrative  was  placed 
in  a  large  number  of  books  and  at  different  dates.  The  contents 
of  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon  were  deciphered  from 
fifty-five  works,  some  of  them  subdivided  into  many  separate 
parts,  as  in  the  Shakespeare  First  Folio  and  Ben  Jonson's 
Folio.  Bacon  declares  his  reason  for  reiteration  was  that  he 
could  not  know  in  which  book  the  cipher  would  be  discovered, 
nor  could  he  suppose  that  it  wovild  be  followed  through  all 
the  works. 

The  article  concludes  with  a  promise  of  more  to  follow — 
then  I  trust  I  may  be  granted  space  for  further  reply. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 

KEPLY  II. 

To  THE  Editok  of  the  Liteeary  World  : 

Sir: — It  is  unnecessary  to  explain  again  the  principles  of 
the  cipher  I  have  set  forth.  Mr.  Fulcher,  Mr.  Sinnett,  Mr. 
Mallock,  Mr.  John  Holt  Schooling,  the  critic  of  the  Literary 
World,  and  others,  have  done  this  with  sufficient  elaboration. 
Then,  too,  in  De  Augmentis  Scientiarum  they  are  fully  illus- 
trated and  clearly  taught  by  the  great  inventor  himself. 

Few  realize  that  Bacon's  own  explanation  was  withheld 
until  the  very  last  of  his  career.  Without  the  key,  the  cipher 
could  not  have  been  discovered,  and  in  that  lay  his  safety.  In 
that,  too,  the  importance  of  the  cipher  was  shown,  for  in  stat- 
ing that  he  invented  it  in  his  youth,  and  explaining  the  same 
in  his  age,  he  set  his  seal  upon  it,  so  to  speak,  as  something 
useful  and  worthy  of  preservation. 

And  again,  there  is  that  very  marked  reference  to  this 
cipher  in  the  1605  edition  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning — 
that  "quintuple  proportion"  required  in  no  other" — so  that  a 
summary  gives  us:  Invented  1579,  mentioned  1605,  illustrated 
1623,  employed  a  lifetime  before  it  was  explained,  as  I  have 
now  proved  true  by  actual  decipherment  from  fifty-five  different 
books. 

157 


The  critic  states:  ''With  respect  to  the  Shakespeare  Folio 
of  1623,  Mr.  Sidney  Lee,  the  final  authority,  declares  that  no 
cipher  exists  in  it.  On  this  point,  having  examined  a  large 
number  of  detached  passages  up  and  down  the  volume,  we  can 
bear  subsidiary  testimony.  ISTot  but  what  there  are  many  in- 
dividual non-normal  letters,"  etc. 

These  'individual  non-normal  letters'  can  be  separated 
into  two  distinct  classes.  The  practical  application  of  Bacon's 
invention  was  merely  a  selection  of  the  different  forms  as  far 
as  they  existed,  and  the  production  of  others  where  there  was  a 
lack.  In  the  cipher,  this  is  clearly  stated.  There  was  no  im- 
propriety in  such  an  adaptation — of  forms  already  existing — 
so  long  as  in  their  use  there  was  uniformity  throughout  each 
work. 

Our  critic  says,  "N^othing  is  more  frequent  than  such  mix- 
tures in  books,"  but  there  should  also  be  added,  what  I  have 
learned  to  be  true,  that  in  Bacon's  works  the  different  founts 
were  used  wdth  a  system,  have  a  rational  dependence  and  con- 
nection, demonstrating  the  incorporation  of  the  bi-literal  cipher. 
He  admits  there  was  a  careless  use  of  the  initial  and  interior 
forms,  especially  of  the  small  v  and  w. 

This  very  fact  assured  Bacon  that  their  methodical  em- 
j)loyment  would  pass  unnoticed.  One  form  is  consistently 
used  as  an  ^a  fount'  letter,  and  the  other  as  b,  unless  there  be  a 
printer's  error,  in  which  case  it  is  easily  corrected  by  the 
context. 

Our  critic  further  states :  "The  book  contains  nearly  400 
pages.  .  .which  must  equal  more  than  three  million  cipher  let- 
ters, distributed  it  is  asserted,  over  numerous  old  books  printed 
in  different  years,  by  different  printers,"  etc.,  and  that  "to 
deal  reliably  with  the  supposed  'normal'  and  'twin'  fonts  re- 
quires a  special  training  and  experience," 

His  estimate  is  approximately  correct.  Having  examined 
with  the  care  that  was  requisite — usually  with  a  magnifying 
glass — every  letter  in  that  'three  million,'  may  I  not  say  I  am 
"fitted  by  experience"  to  differentiate  the  forms,  and  that  I 
Jcnow  whereof  I  speak  ? 

I  make  no  claim  to  genius  but  the  'genius  of  hard  w^ork,' 
nor  to  inspiration  except  that  coming  from  success  which  gave 
me  courage  to  persevere. 

158 


There  has  been  a  slight  misunderstanding  regarding  the 
method  of  deciphering.  Both  ways  suggested  by  the  critic  were 
tried  in  the  beginning,  as  well  as  other  methods,  but  the  one 
finally  adopted  was  found  to  be  most  expeditious.  I  have  many 
times  given  this  in  detail,  perhaps  to  some  of  jouv  readers. 

The  Italic  letters  of  a  page  or  two  of  the  text  were  first 
copied  in  consecutive  order  by  an  operator  using  a  typewriting 
machine  that,  arranged  to  space  after  each  fifth  letter,  auto- 
matically formed  the  requisite  cipher  groups.  When  sufficient 
study  had  made  me  familiar  with  the  forms  and  classification 
of  letters  in  the  book — sometimes  a  matter  of  days  and  oven 
weeks — I  placed  a  mark  under  the  copied  letters  indicating  the 
fount  to  which  each  Italic  letter  belonged.  Tentative  divisions 
were  required  to  ascertain  the  correct  grouping,  and  to  deter- 
mine the  starting  point,  but  when  these  had  been  unmistakably 
found,  the  copying  would  be  resumed  and  the  sheets  containing 
the  transcribed  Italics  thus  properly  grouped — but  always  in 
their  consecutive  order  as  they  stand  in  the  books — would  be 
brought  to  me. 

Having  in  the  meantime  memorized  the  alphabets,  I  noted 
each  'b  fount'  letter  and  placed  a  stroke  (  /  )  under  the  cor- 
responding letter  on  the  typewritten  sheet.  All  the  others,  be- 
longing to  the  'a  fount,'  were  marked  with  a  short  dash  under- 
neath, by  an  assistant,  and  the  resulting  bi-literal  letter  was  then 
set  down.  This  was  the  MS.  to  which  I  referred,  and  it  is  of 
this  that  "critic"  facetiously  asks :  "What  need  of  MSS.  if  the 
cypher  was  already  embodied  in  the  printed  texts  ?" 

Had  he  been  at  all  familiar  with  ciphers  he  would  have 
known  they  are  not  to  be  read  at  a  glance.  They  are  purposely 
made  obscure,  and  are  designed  to  be  impossible  to  decipher 
by  those  not  possessing  the  key,  and  difficult  in  any  case. 

Before  reviewers  cite  Mr.  Lee  as  authority  upon  the 
cipher,  they  should  know  whether  or  not  his  premises  are 
correct.  Mr.  Lee  says:  "Italic  and  Roman  types  are  never  in- 
termingled in  the  manner  that  would  bo  essential  if  the  words 
embodied  Bacon's  bi-literal  cypher." — this  shows,  as  I  have 
before  pointed  out,  in  print  and  otherwise,  that  Mr.  Lee  misap- 
prehends the  essentials.  The  Tloman  and  Italic  types  are 
not  intermingled  to  form  bi-literal  letters.  From  1579  to 
1623,  a  period  of  forty-four  years,  no  Roman  type  was  employ- 

159 


L 


ed  for  cipher  purposes.  On  pages  66-67  of  the  Bi-litcral  Cypher 
reference  is  made  to  their  use  in  a  few  short  passages,  only,  of 
the  later  publications — the  preliminary  pages  of  the  First  Folio, 
and  of  Yitae  et  Mortis,  etc.  Mr.  Lee  is,  therefore,  not  good 
authority,  because  he  does  not  understand  the  principles  of 
the  cipher,  and,  drawing  his  conclusion  from  false  premises, 
declares  the  cipher  non-existent  that  I  know  does  exist. 

My  critic  says:  "Just  as  in  the  Spenserian  passage,  the 
Gallupian  6-type  has  been  somehow  introduced  into  the  repro- 
duced text  [of  the  Novum  Organum]  so  as  to  give  the  desired 
cipher-groups :  but  how,  and  by  whom  ?" 

If  he  refers  to  the  "^b  type'  of  the  photographic  facsimiles, 
it  is  a  frank  acknowledgment  that  he  can  see  the  differences  in 
the  types.  He  could,  therefore,  become  a  cipher  expert  if  he 
chose.  The  '^S-type'  was  introduced  when  the  originals  were 
printed,  the  one  in  1620,  the  other  in  1591. 

If  the  reference  is  to  the  passages  that  were  set  up  in 
modern  type  by  our  printers,  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating 
the  method  of  deciphering,  the  answer  is  in  the  statement  it- 
self. The  two  founts  were  purposely  selected  with  differences 
sufficiently  marked  to  be  apparent  to  the  dullest  vision 

The  facsimiles  were  omitted  from  the  third  edition  of  the 
book,  not  because  they  proved  too  much  but  too  little.  In  spite 
of  the  care  taken  to  secure  accuracy,  some  distinctive  differ- 
ences were  lost,  and,  as  a  consequence,  deciphering  from  the 
reproductions,  was  much  more  difficult  than  from  the  originals, 
therefore  not  suited  to  novices  in  the  art. 

Our  critic  makes  a  misstatement  in  saying  that  one  section 
of  the  book  "purports  to  be  a  translation  of  Homer's  Iliad  made 
by  Bacon  and  buried  in  cipher  in  Burton's  'Anatomy  of  Melan- 
choly.' " 

This  section  is  fully  explained  to  be  but  an  epitome — 
argument.  Bacon  calls  it — of  the  chief  events,  with  the  names 
of  the  principal  characters,  to  be  used  as  a  guide  and  frame- 
work of  the  fuller  translation.  The  complete  poem  is  embodied 
in  the  .works  and  is  to  be  extracted  by  means  of  the  word- 
cipher,  a  very  different  method.  Our  critic  also  repeats  the 
baseless  aspersion  made  by  Mr.  Marston  that  the  Argument  is 
a  prose  paraphrase  of  Pope's  translation.     I  have,  in  replying 


160 


to  j\Ir.  Marston's  criticism    of    my    work,  fully  refuted  this 
charge,  and  I  repeat  that  it  is  wholly  without  foundation. 

That  our  critic  understands  little  of  the  books  he  reviews, 
is  apparent  in  his  reference  to  the  method  of  constructing  the 
Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  this  requires  that  I  again  ex- 
plain the  difference  of  method  in  the  two  ciphers.  The  bi- 
literal  is  in  the  Italic  letters  of  the  original  volumes — in  two 
founts  or  forms  of  type — and  has  been  extracted  letter  by  letter, 
separated  into  cipher  groups  of  five,  and  the  result  set  down. 
The  word-cipher  is  much  more  elaborate,  and  consists  in  a 
reconstructing  of  the  history,  poem,  or  drama  that  had  been 
disseminated  through  the  works.  Words,  phrases,  and  passages, 
pertaining  to  the  same  subject,  are  brought  together  by  the 
keys  and  joining- words,  and  in  this  new  sequence  relate  an 
entirely  different  story.  Yet  this  interior  history  is  the  origi- 
nal. If  our  critic  had  thoroughly  read  the  introductory 
pages  of  the  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn,  he  would  have  under- 
stood that  the  lines  were  taken  bodily  from  Henry  VIII — 
and  the  107  other  works — in  accordance  with  this  clear  and 
definite  plan.  The  ^'argument"  or  synopsis,  'framework'  if  he 
pleases,  of  this  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn,  is  given  in  the  Bi- 
literal  Cypher  to  aid  in  collecting  the  scattered  passages,  as  the 
Argument  of  the  Iliad  is  given  to  aid  in  gathering  the  scattered 
fragments  of  the  fuller  translation  of  the  great  Greek  poem. 
Some  of  the  fragments  of  this  work  are  in  the  text  of  the 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  but  it  is  seldom  that  many  consecu- 
tive lines  are  found  there.  The  following  will  however  be 
recognized : — "Pandarus,  Lycaon's  son,  when  he  shot  at  Mene- 
laus  the  Grecian  with  a  strong  arm  and  deadly  arrow,  Pallas 
as  a  good  mother  keeps  flies  from  her  child's  face  asleep, 
turned  by  the  shaft,  and  made  it  hit  on  the  buckle  of  his  girdle." 
— Part,  ii.  Sect,  iii,  Mem.  iii.  Many  of  the  proper  names  are 
also  found  in  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.  These  fragments 
of  the  Iliad  are  scattered  throughout  all  the  works,  but  the 
largest  portions  are  to  be  found  in  Greene's  prose.  I  am  ex- 
plicit regarding  this  because  so  few  understand  that  Bacon  re- 
fers to  the  poem  in  the  word-cipher,  when  he  mentions  works 
that  contain  portions  of  Homer. 

Some    writers,    too,    wlio    have   become    acquainted    with 
Bacon's   bi-literal   cipher,    are   not  equally  familiar   with    the 

161 


v/~ 


word-cipher,  although  it  is  mentioned  in  the  Advancement  of 
Learning  (1605)  in  the  first  lines  of  the  paragraph  on  ciphers: 
"For  Cyphers  they  are  commonly  in  Letters  or  Alphabets  but 
may  be  in  Wordes."  Bacon  chose  an  epistle  of  Cicero  for  the 
illustration  of  the  bi-literal,  and  it  appears  that  it  was  in  that 
philosopher's  writings  that  he  found  the  suggestion  of  the  word- 
cipher  plan,  for  he  says:  ''And  Cicero  himselfe  being  broken 
unto  it  by  great  experience,  delivereth  it  plainely ;  That  whatso- 
ever a  man  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of,  (if  he  will  take  the 
paines)  he  may  have  it  in  effect  premediate,  and  handled  in 
these.  So  that  when  hee  commeth  to  a  particular,  he  shall  have 
nothing  to  doc  but  to  put  too  Xames,  and  times,  and  places ; 
and  such  other  Circumstances  of  individuals." 

Bacon  saw  how  the  lines  of  history,  or  drama,  or  trans- 
lation could  be  separated  and  used  in  more  than  one  place, 
and  his  invention  consisted  in  the  use  of  certain  key-words  that 
marked  the  passages  belonging  together.  By  making  use  of 
these  in  the  original  works,  and  taking  the  work  apart  by  tbi? 
same  keys  that  must  be  used  in  reassembling  the  portions,  his 
idea  was  successfully  carried  out.  To  guard  against  mistakes, 
and  to  make  the  work  less  laborious  to  the  decipherer,  he  gave 
short  "arguments"  of  the  hidden  work,  as  well  as  the  keys,  in 
this  auxiliary  bi-literal  cipher. 

It  is  an  error,  then,  to  suppose  that  the  sections  are  not 
brought  together  "in  any  rational  order." 

It  would  of  course  be  possible  to  give  the  entire  interior 
play  or  poem  in  a  single  work,  but  this  was  not  Bacon's  plan; 
and  he  adopted  a  very  ingenious  manner  of  directing  the  deciph- 
erer by  guide-words  to  the  different  works,  containing  the  scat- 
tered sections. 

This  disseminating  of  the  original  work  that  was  to  be 
brought  together  again  by  this  cipher,  caused  the  anachronisms 
in  the  plays — the  dispersing  of  the  Armada  in  King  John, 
Cleopatra's  billiards,  artillery  before  it  was  in  use,  etc. — but  it 
enabled  him  to  hide  his  principal  and  dangerous  history,  as 
well  as  other  important  writings,  to  be  collected  again  at  a  safe 
distance  of  time  and  place,  and  the  end  justified  the  means. 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 


162 


MR.  DANA  AND  "MATTOIDS." 

Ed.  N.  Y.  Times,  Saturday  Review : 

Under  the  caption,  "Shakespeare  and  Bacon.  Writers 
about  them  are  not  exactly  lunatics — their  cypher  essentially  a 
mattoid  product." — Mr.  Charles  L.  Dana  gives  what  purports 
to  be  a  review  of  a  book  recently  published,  "The  Bi-literal 
Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon."  * 

This  cipher  I  had  the  fortune  to  discover,  as  it  exists  in 
the  original  editions  of  the  works  of  that  great  author,  and  I 
have  deciphered  and  given  to  the  public  what  is  contained  in 
the  volume  referred  to,  hence  come  under  the  classification 
which  the  gentleman  seems  to  impose  upon  a  very  considerable 
number  of  students  and  fellow-writers. 

I  hope  Mr.  Dana  does  not  intend  to  be  rude,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  he  has  unnecessarily  gone  out  of  his  way  in  applying 
epithets  to  people  who  differ  from  him  in  certain  literary  con- 
clusions, and  as  the  class,  which  he  condemns  for  such  differing 
opinion,  is  a  large  and  growing  one,  and  embraces  names  and 
persons  even  in  his  own  city — judges,  lawyers,  newspaper  men, 
etc. — the  peers  of  Mr.  Dana  in  intelligence,  whom  he  would  not 
dare  personally  to  face  with  such  aspersions  as  he  indulges  in 
print,  he  shows  himself  inconsistent  as  well  as  reckless."  As  a 
specimen  of  inconsistency,  I  quote  from  his  opening  paragraph : 
"The  question  (Bacon  vs.  Shakespeare),  however,  continued  to 
be  agitated  or,  rather,  advocated,  because  few  scholars  regarded 
it  seriously.  Some  men  of  note,  if  not  of  learning,  took  it  up, 
and  Lord  Palmerston  is  said  to  have  been  a  convert."  Certainly 
this  is  eminently  respectable  company. 

Near  the  close  of  the  article,  speaking  of  those  who  believe 
that  Sir  Francis  Bacon  produced  a  much  larger  part  of  the 
literature  of  the  world  than  is  accredited  to  him,  and  dare  offer 
evidence  of  it,  he  says:  "They  are  not  exactly  lunatics,  for  the 
characteristic  of  lunacy  is  weakness."  I  suppose  we  should  be 
thankful,  therefore,  that,  by  the  gentleman's  saving  grace,  we 
are  not  "lunatics,  characterized  by  weakness." 

163 


Mr.  Dana  goes  on  to  say:  "Sucli  people  have  received  the 
scientific  name  of  mattoids" — a  word  apparently  borrowed  from 
the  Italian  alienist,  Lombroso,  as  it  is  not  found  in  many  dic- 
tionaries or  encyclopedias.  If  euphemistic,  a  critic  like  Mr. 
risk,  uses  the  expression  "eccentric" ;  if  addicted  to  slang, 
another  would  say,  "cranks."  The  use  made,  in  the  article,  of 
this  term  "mattoids,"  is  to  designate  those  who  have  "obses- 
sions"— doing  things  "under  the  domination  of  an  idea,  which 
is,  as  a  rule,  foolish" — in  Mr.  Dana's  estimation. 

There  can  hardly  be  an  "obsession"  greater  than  to  declare 
things  do  not  exist,  because  the  individual  is  unable  to  com- 
prehend their  presentation. 

"Your  opinion,  my  opinion,  any  man's  opinion,  is  the 
measure  of  his  knowledge."  If  a  man's  knowledge  is  ample 
and  accurate,  his  opinions  are  entitled  to  consideration.  Mr. 
Dana's  knowledge  of  the  bi-literal  cipher  is  evidently  neither 
ample  nor  accurate.  The  fact  is  that  the  presentation  in  the 
book  he  criticises  is  by  fac-simile  pages  from  the  original 
Latin  edition  of  De  Augmentis  Scientarium,  published  by 
Bacon  in  1624,  and  by  a  verbatim  reproduction  of  the  first 
English  translation  of  the  work,  published  in  1640.  This 
cipher  is  explained  for  the  first  time  in  1623  Latin  edition, 
though  invented  by  Bacon  in  1579,  and  used  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  The  explanation  is  Bacon's  own,  and  this 
cipher  has  been  the  basis  of  the  most  important  cipher  systems 
that  are  in  use  in  the  world  today. 

Another  thing  that  strikes  me  as  inconsistent  in  the 
writer,  and  that  lays  his  article  open  to  his  own  characteriza- 
tion of  "weak  logic,  stupendous  misrepresentation,  and  erratic 
conduct,"  is  this:  The  value  of  a  critique  is  in  telling  some- 
thing of  the  subject  criticised  that  will  be  of  value  to  readers. 
Mr.  Dana  fails  to  make  a  single  quotation,  controvert  a  single 
proposition  which  the  book  contains  or  give  a  special  reason 
for  disbelief  in  the  historical  facts  that  have  come  to  light 
through  the  Cipher.  It  is  simply  his  ipse  dixit  that  the  Cipher 
does  not  exist  except  in  the  imagination  of  the  decipherer. 

Is  it  profound  criticism  which  exhausts  itself  in  hurling 
anathemas  and  vituperation  ?  The  creed  of  space  writers  in 
the  newspapers,  when  attacking  things  Baconian,  seems  to  be 
that,  as  with  the  first  man,  Adam,  sin  came  upon  all  mankind, 

164 


the  insanity  of  Delia  Bacon,  who  was  the  first  Baconian,  was 
transmitted  to  all  her  successors,  and  that  is  the  end  of  the 
argument. 

I  think  it  only  fair  to  the  readers  of  the  Times  that 
something  should  be  said  on  the  subject,  and  of  the  book  itself, 
which  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  "mattoids"  among  the  authors 
of  things  not  to  Mr.  Dana's  taste,  first  saying  that,  personally, 
I  have  to  confess  to  mature  years,  and  no  little  experience  in 
educational  work,  preliminary  and  preparatory  to  which  was 
quite  a  thorough  course  of  educational  training  in  our  own 
country,  supplemented  by  a  considerable  period  of  study,  in 
France  and  Germany. 

Long  before  I  had  more  than  a  passing  and  superficial 
knowledge  of  Bacon's  Bi-literal  Cipher,  I  had  observed  what 
all  careful  students  of  Elizabethan  literature  have  noted  and 
remarked  upon  in  the  original  editions,  that  the  Italic  letters 
in  some  of  the  books  were  in  two  or  more  forms.  Later,  when 
an  original  De  Augmentis  came  into  my  hands,  I  saw  there 
a  clear  explanation  and  elaborate  illustration  of  a  cipher  that 
required  simply  a  biformed  alphabet.  Bacon  there  speaks  of 
the  time  of  its  invention  as  in  his  youthful  days  while  in  Paris. 
It  is  first  mentioned  in  his  Advancement  of  Learning,  pub- 
lished in  1605,  with  a  hint  of  its  importance.  This  was 
twenty-five  years  after  its  invention.  Eighteen  years  later 
still,  in  1623,  we  find  it  fully  elaborated,  at  no  small  cost 
and  pains,  this  still  further  emphasizing  its  value  after  forty- 
three  years  of  time.  These  facts,  in  themselves,  would  sug- 
gest that  the  originator  had  tested  its  practicability.  The 
discovery  of  its  application  to  the  Italic  letters  in  differing 
forms  in  the  original  editions  of  Bacon's  works,  has  proved 
that  it  was  made  the  medium  (in  no  "spiritualistic"  way)  for 
the  transmission  of  those  secrets  concerning  Bacon,  without 
the  revelation  of  which  many  things  in  his  life  seemed  obscure 
and  paradoxical. 

Seven  years  of  time  have  I  given  to  the  study  of  Bacon 
and  his  ciphers — not  as  a  dilettante,  desultorily,  as  a  means 
of  recreation  or  use  of  spare  moments — but  as  a  student  in 
the  hardest,  most  conscientious  sense  of  the  word.  A  study 
which  has  been  a  weariness  to  the  brain  and  destructive  to 


165 


eyesight.  Has  Mr.  Dana  given  seven  days,  or  even  hours, 
to  real  research  ? 

As  Bacon  said  in  his  History  of  King  Henry  VII, 
"We  shall  make  our  judgment  upon  the  things  themselves,  aa 
they  give  light  one  to  another,  and  (as  we  can)  dig  truth  out 
of  the  mine." 

Spurred  on  by  the  fascination  of  an  important  discovery, 
and  by  its  development,  as  the  concealed  story  was  unfolded, 
letter  by  letter,  word  by  word,  revealing  the  hidden  life,  the 
secret  thoughts  and  emotions  of  that  great  mind  and  person- 
ality, concerning  which  but  the  half  has  been  known,  I  have 
examined  over  seven  thousand  pages  of  rare  and  priceless  old 
original  editions,  placed  at  my  disposal  by  the  courtesy  of 
private  collectors  in  this  country  and  in  England,  or  found 
in  our  public  libraries,  and  in  that  greatest  of  all  receptacles 
of  literary  treasures,  the  British  Museum.  Every  Italic  letter 
on  those  seven  thousand  pages  has  been  set  down  in  its  proper 
group,  classified  according  to  the  rules  of  the  Cipher,  and  the 
peculiar  characteristics  of  each  letter  studied  until  they  became 
as  familiar  as  the  face  of  a  friend.  The  results  of  the 
deciphering  so  far  published  fill  three  hundred  and  sixty-eight 
pages  of  the  book  under  discussion.  It  would  be  a  vivid  imag- 
ination, indeed,  that  could  create  an  historical  narrative  such 
as  the  Cipher  reveals.  I  have  earned  the  right  to  speak  with 
confidence  of  what  this  research  has  brought  to  light.  I  here 
repeat  a  paragraph  of  the  personal  preface  to  the  First 
Edition : 

I  appreciate  what  it  means  to  ask  strong  minds  to  change 
long-standing  literary  convictions,  and  of  such  I  venture  to 
ask  the  withholding  of  judgment  until  study  shall  have  made 
the  new  matter  familiar,  with  the  assurance  meanwhile,  upon 
my  part,  of  the  absolute  veracity  of  the  work  which  is  here 
presented.  ...  I  would  beg  that  the  readers  of  this  book  shall 
bring  to  the  consideration  of  the  work,  minds  free  from  preju- 
dice, judging  of  it  with  the  same  intelligence  and  impartiality 
they  would  themselves  desire  if  the  presentation  were  their 
own.  Otherwise  the  work  will,  indeed,  be  a  thankless  task. 

In  conclusion,  and  I  speak  from  knowledge  gained  at 
fearful  cost,  I  say  with  the  utmost  positiveness,  that  there  is 
no  more  doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  both  the  Word  Cypher, 

166 


and  the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  in  the  works  of  Francis  Bacon,  nor 
as  to  his  authorship  of  the  Shakespeare  Plays,  and  certain 
other  works  accredited  to  other  names,  than  there  is  as  to  the 
existence  of  stars  which  onlj^  students  of  astronomy  have 
known. 

So  long  as  the  "Baconian  theory"  remained  a  matter  of 
literary  opinion  merely,  all  had  a  right  to  their  own,  but  no 
one  has  the  right  to  place  his  prepossessions  against  facts  which 
he  has  not  properly  investigated,  and  then  charge  that  the 
result  of  the  careful  investigations  of  others  leads  to  "stupen- 
dous misrepresentations"  and  to  "mattoidal  products," 

Elizabeth  W.  Gallup. 


167 


CORRESPONDENCE   IN  THE   -TIMES" 


CO^niUXICATIOXS  TO  THE  "TIMES." 

LoiQ^DON. 

BACOX— SHAKESPEARE. 

To  THE  Editor  of  the  Times  : 

Sir : — Many  of  the  writers  who,  in  your  own  columns  and 
elsewhere,  have  been  lately  expressing  their  views  with  re- 
gard to  the  bi-literal  Cipher  alleged  to  exist  in  the  First  Folio  of 
Shakespeare  have  spoken  of  me  as  a  convert  to  Mrs.  Gallup's 
theory.  I  am  not  so.  I  am  a  convert  only  to  the  view  that  her 
theory  is  sufficiently  plausible  to  deserve  to  have  its  truth 
tested.  Regarded  as  a  subject  of  inquiry,  its  great  merit  lies 
in  the  fact  that  its  truth  or  falsehood  can  be  ascertained  by 
purely  mechanical  means,  such  as  photographic  enlargements 
of  the  text,  coupled  with  a  systematic  examination  of  them. 
I  stated  this  opinion  in  my  article  in  the  Nineteenili  Century. 
Pending  such  an  examination,  which  I  intend  to  undertake 
myself,  other  arguments  appear  to  me  a  waste  of  time.  They 
are  like  arguments  as  to  whether  a  piece  of  plate  has  been 
hidden  in  a  locked-up  cupboard,  when  the  sensible  course  to 
pursue  is  to  pick  the  lock  and  see.  Mr.  Sidney  Lee's  letters 
seem  to  me  to  contain  little  but  statements — no  doubt  true — 
as  to  the  extent  of  his  own  learning,  and  urbane  intimations 
that  all  persons  who  differ  from  him  are  half-witted  mono- 
maniacs. With  regard  to  the  general  question  of  the  author- 
ship of  the  Shakespeare  Plays  the  monomaniacs  are  those  who 
consider  any  doubt  of  Shakespeare's  authorship  unreasonable. 
The  main  grounds  on  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  a  doubt  of  his 
authorship  rests  are  grounds  which  suggest  themselves  to  the 
common  sense  of  an  ordinary  man  of  the  world,  and  arise 
from  the  few  details  ascertainable  with  regard  to  Shakespeare's 
life,  as  put  before  us  by  writers  like  Mr.  Lee  himself.  The 
mere  genius  displayed  in  the  Plays  offers  no  difficulty.  The 
difficulty  consists  in  the  kind  of  knowledge  displayed  in  them. 
This  simple  fact  Mr.  Lee  seems  wholly  unable  to  appreciate, 
as  the  illustrations  he  addueos  in  your  issue  of  December  27 


show.  He  says  that  to  doubt  that  Shakespeare  wrote  the  Plays 
ascribed  to  him  is  like  entertaining  a  similar  doubt  with  regard 
to  Keats  or  Dickens,  because  both  these  writers,  like  Shake- 
speare, the  butcher's  son,  were  also  born  in  comparatively  hum- 
ble circumstances.  The  whole  point  of  the  question  escapes 
Mr.  Lee  altogether.  The  poetry  of  Keats  displays  no  knowl- 
edge whatever  the  possession  of  which  would  be  singular  in  a 
person  situated  as  he  was,  and  having  similar  tastes ;  whilst 
the  knowledge  displayed  in  the  works  of  Dickens  is  not  only 
not  inconsistent  with  what  we  know  of  his  life,  but  is,  alike 
in  its  extent  and  its  limitations,  an  accurate  reflection  of  his 
opportunities  for  observation,  and  of  his  experiences.  It  is 
precisely  because  the  case  of  Shakespeare,  in  this  respect, 
instead  of  being  parallel  to  that  of  Keats  and  Dickens,  as 
Mr.  Lee  supposes,  is  in  striking  contrast  to  it  that  a  doubt  as 
to  the  possibility  of  his  having  written  the  works  ascribed  to 
him  has  arisen;  and  if  Mr.  Lee  does  not  understand  this 
initial  fact — as  it  would  seem  he  does  not — he  is,  as  yet, 
despite  all  his  scholarship,  hardly  in  a  position  to  describe  the 
doubts  of  those  who  differ  from  him  as  groundless.  It  is 
perfectly  true  that  the  question  has  another  side.  Mr.  Lee's 
error  lies  in  his  assumption  that  it  has  only  one  side. 

With  regard  to  his  boast  that  he  has  collated  25  copies 
of  the  First  Folio,  this  fact  is  altogether  irrelevant  unless  he 
has  collated  them  with  a  view  to  examining  the  forms  of  the 
Italic  letters  used,  with  a  view  to  testing  the  truth  of  Mrs. 
Gallup's  theory.  This,  I  gather,  he  has  not  done,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  he  does  not  seem  to  have  taken  the  trouble  to  inform 
himself  accurately  what  her  theory  is.  He  tells  us  that  the 
Roman  type  employed  in  the  First  Folio  is  all  from  one  fount, 
as  if  this  fact  touched  the  position  of  Mrs.  Gallup ;  whereas 
what  Mrs.  Gallup  alleges  is  that  the  Cipher  is  confined  en- 
tirely to  the  Italic  portions  of  the  text,  and  that  the  other  por- 
tions have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it.  If  he  had  said 
that  he  thought  the  question  not  worth  inquiring  into,  his 
position  would  have  been  quite  intelligible ;  but  to  express,  as 
he  has  done,  a  vehement  opinion  with  regard  to  it,  without 
having  given  it  more  than  a  passing  and  prejudiced  attention, 
is  not  a  course  which  reflects  much  credit  on  his  critical 
judgment. 

170 


For  myself,  I  should  be  prepared  to  accept  one  solution 
of  the  problem  or  the  other  with  the  same  equanimity.  Either, 
in  its  own  way,  would  be  equally  interesting.  If  Mrs.  Gallup's 
theory  is  altogether  false,  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been 
elaborated  will  form  a  curious  incident  in  literary  history. 
Should  it  prove  true,  it  will  be  more  curious  still.  But  what 
strikes  me  principally  in  this  controversy  is  the  odd  senti- 
mental acerbity  with  which  the  upholders  of  Shakespeare's 
authorship  receive  the  arguments  of  those  who  presume  to 
entertain  a  doubt  of  it.  Shakespeare  is  a  figure  of  interest  to 
us  only  because  we  assume  him  to  have  written  the  works  that 
bear  his  name.  What  we  know  of  him  otherwise  tends  to 
quench  interest  rather  than  arouse  it.  What  reason  is  there, 
other  than  the  most  foolish  form  of  school-girl  sentiment,  for 
resenting  the  idea  of  a  transference  of  our  admiration  of  the 
author  of  the  Plays  from  a  man  who  is  personally  a  complete 
stranger  to  us — or  at  best  a  not  very  reputable  acquaintance — 
to  a  man  who  is  universally  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
geniuses  who  have  ever  appeared  at  any  period  of  the  world's 
history  ? 

I  am,   Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.   H.   Mallock. 


171 


THE  BACON-SHAKESPEARE  CYPHER. 

To    THE    EdITOK   of    THE    TiMES : 

Sir: — Since  you  have  allowed  a  critic  of  Mrs.  Gallup's 
interpretation  of  the  "Bi-literal  Cipher"  to  cast  discredit  on  the 
whole  of  her  work  on  the  strength  of  having  discovered  (what 
he  thinks)  one  flaw  in  it,  surely  you  will  allow  a  believer  in 
"the  Bacon-Shakespeare  craze"  to  put  forward  a  few  words 
in  reference  to  the  "Shakespeare-Stratford  superstition." 

There  are  two  schools  of  thinkers  in  reference  to  that 
superstition,  those  who  have  studied  the  matter  and  those  who 
have  not.  The  former  are  Baconians.  Talking  recently  with  a 
devotee  of  the  superstition,  I  said :  "Surely,  if  you  say  that, 
you  cannot  have  seriously  considered  .  .  .  such  and  such 
points."  His  answer  was,  "I  would  rather  hang  myself  than 
seriously  consider  anything  so  atrocious."  That  is  a  common 
attitude  of  mind,  and  the  reason  why,  as  yet,  only  a  minority 
of  Englishmen  possessing  an  unusual  degree  of  culture  are 
fully  aware  of  the  fact  that  Francis  Bacon  wrote  the  Plays 
published  under  the  name  of  Shakespeare.  The  argument 
derived  from  the  contents  of  the  Promus  containing  1,700 
private  memoranda  in  Bacon's  handwriting,  all  of  which  are 
used  up  by  him  later  on  in  the  Plays,  the  argument  derived 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  Plays,  in  the  order  of  their 
appearance,  reflect  the  incidents  of  Bacon's  life,  the  little 
circumstance  that  11  of  the  best  known  Plays  were  never 
acted,  published,  or  heard  of  till  seven  years  after  Shake- 
speare's death  are  a  few  of  the  reasons  which  influence  the 
belief  of  those  attached  to  "the  craze."  A  few  of  the  reasons 
why  the  superstition  appears  so  comically  absurd  to  them  have 
reference  to  the  fact  that  there  is  no  shadow  of  reason  for  sup- 
posing that  the  Stratford  boy — apprenticed  to  his  father  as  a 
butcher  at  14 — ever  acquired  the  art,  then  very  unusual  among 
people  in  his  rank  of  life — the  art  of  writing.  IvTeither  his 
parents  nor  his  children  ever  learned  to  write.    He  learned 

172 


in  later  life  to  scrawl  something  resembling  a  signature,  not 
the  bad  writing  of  a  literary  man,  but  the  hesitating,  vague 
scratching  of  one  who  hardly  knew  how  to  hold  the  pen.  After 
a  few  years  spent  as  tradesman's  assistant  in  a  vortex  of  ignor- 
ance, the  boy  ran  away  to  London  and,  according  to  the  super- 
stition, immediately  wrote  Loves  Labour's  Lost,  The  Taming 
of  the  Shreiv,  and  The  Two  Oentlemen  of  Verona,  which  were 
brought  out  the  year  he  came  to  London.  The  ridiculous 
souffles  of  imagination  presented  to  the  world  by  the  orthodox 
biographers  of  Shakespeare  are  all  based  upon  the  authors' 
theories  as  to  what  ''probably  took  place"  or  what  ''must  have 
happened"  because  Shakespeare  wrote  the  Plays. 

It  is  impossible  to  deal  intelligently  with  the  cipher  story 
till  one  has  first  of  all  escaped  from  the  trammels  of  the  super- 
stition. Let  people  new  to  the  subject  be  assured  ,to  begin  with, 
that,  without  touching  a  scrap  of  evidence  having  to  do  with 
ciphers,  those  who  "seriously  consider"  the  question  approach 
the  discussion  of  ciphers  from  the  point  of  view  of  knowing 
that  the  Shakespeare  idea  is  pure,  idiotic  nonsense,  and  that 
Bacon,  of  course,  wrote  the  Plays.  Then,  as  regards  Mrs. 
Gallup's  Cipher,  the  (incstion  is  simply  this:  Has  she  built 
up  the  whole  of  this  long  story  out  of  her  own  head  as  a  con- 
scious literary  fraud,  or,  ''errors  and  omissions  excepted,"  is 
it  to  be  accepted  as  genuine  ?  There  is  no  halting-place  between 
those  two  views.  Xow  Mrs.  Gallup  did  not  work  alone.  She 
was  assisted  by  quite  a  group  of  people  of  imequivocal  posi- 
tion and  respectability,  she  was  eager  to  invite  the  observa- 
tion of  witnesses  while  engagd  for  six  months  at  the  Britisli 
Museum  deciphering  the  present  story,  and  the  fraud  hy])othc- 
sis  becomes,  for  those  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  make  them- 
selves acquainted  even  in  an  elementary  way  with  the  facts, 
utterly  untenable.  The  way  to  deal  with  it  is  to  check  Mrs. 
Gallup's  work.  If  the  Cipher  is  verifiable  to  any  appreciable 
degree — as  Mr.  Marston  even  seems  to  admit,  as  Mr.  Mallock 
has  definitely  stated — its  verification  by  a  responsible  commit- 
tee will  displace  the  whole  subject  from  the  region  of  contro- 
versy and  ])ut  "the  Bacon-Shakespeare  craze"  on  a  level  with 
that  which  brought  Galileo  into  so  much  bad  odour  with  ortho- 
doxy when  he  maintained  that  the  enrfh  went  round  th(>  sun. 


173 


As  for  the  curious  flaw  Mr.  Marston  has  detected  in  the 
Iliad  translation,  we  can  afford  to  wait  for  Mrs.  Gallup's  expla- 
nation. If  the  whole  problem  rested  on  Mrs.  Gallup's  good 
faith,  the  flaw  might  seem  supicious,  but  it  rests  on  the  shape 
of  letters  in  books  at  the  British  Museum.  In  itself  it  is  the 
biggest  literary  problem  ever  set  before  the  world;  the  prima 
facie  case  is  overwhelming,  as  every  one  who  has  studied  the 
question  knows  full  well.  How  is  it  possible  that  a  dreary, 
senseless  old  prejudice  should  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  truth  ?  Who  among  those  in  a  position  to  do  this  effect- 
ively will  imdertake  the  duty  of  organizing  a  really  competent 
committee  (including  some  persons,  at  all  events,  who  hava 
studied  the  subject)  to  determine  once  for  all  to  what  author- 
ship the  greatest  writings  in  the  English  langviage  are  to  be 
assigned?  As  for  little  difficulties  about  dates,  they  Avill  have 
to  give  way  if  the  cipher  story  is  verified. 

A.    P.    SiNNETT. 
27,   Leinster-gardens,   W.,   Dec.    20,    1901. 


174 


BACONIAN  CYPHER. 

To  THE  Editor  of  the  Times: 

Sir: — Prompted  by  Mr.  Marston's  letter,  one  of  your 
leader  writers  makes  an  insinuation  against  Mrs.  Gallup 
"which  gallantry  forbids  us  to  state." 

The  lady,  unlike  R.  L.  Stevenson,  is  alive  and  able  to 
deal  with  innuendos  of  this  sort. 

That  Pope  had  access  to  the  MS.  of  Lord  Bacon's  version 
is  not  unlikely,  or  that  he  saw  an  earlier  deciphering  from  the 
Anatomy.  Both  Rawley  and  Ben  Jonson  were  alive  in  1628 
and  wrote  the  Cipher. 

Apart  from  this,  the  phrases  in  the  passage  in  question 
which  are  common  to  both  poets  were  not  new  at  the  date 
Pope  wrote. 

"Silver  fountain"  is  in  the  Shakespeare  Play  of 
Richard  II.,  Act  5,  Sc.  3 ;  "hoary-headed'  in  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream,  Act  2,  Sc.  1 ;  and  "Titan  rays"  in  Titus 
Andronicus,  Act  1,  Sc.  2. 

May  I  humbly  correct  your  "leader"  ? 

The  Cipher  not  only  mentions  a  marriage  ceremony  in 
the  Tower,  but  a  ceremony  in  September  after  the  death  of 
Dudley's  wife,  at  a  time  when,  according  to  Mother  Dowe,  of 
Brentwood  (see  "Calendar  of  State  Papers  for  August,  1560"), 
marriage  was  very  necessary. 

The  Cipher  does  not  say  it  took  Francis  four  decades  of 
interval  to  get  over  his  affection  for  Margaret  of  Navarre,  but 
that :  "Not  until  four  decades  or  eight  lustres  o'  life  were  out- 
lived did  I  take  any  other  to  my  sore  heart.  Then  I  married" 
— that  is  to  say,  did  not  marry  until  after  his  40th  year. 

If  Mr.  Marston  had  imitated  the  caution  of  Mr.  W.  H. 
^Vlallock,  instead  of  rushing  into  print  directly  he  believed  him- 
self in  a  position  to  impugn  Mrs.  Gallup's  bona  fides,  your 
leader  writer  would  have  been  less  fluttered. 
Yours  obediently, 

Parker  Woodward. 
King-street,  Nottingham. 

175 


I 


FRANCIS  BACON  AND  THE  CIPHER. 

To  THE  Editor  of  the  Times: 

Sir: — ^We  may  hope  that  the  truth  in  this  matter  may 
be   established   now   that   The   Times   is   seriously   facing   the 
problem,   even  though   at  first  your  sympathies   lean   heavily 
against  what  Baconians  conceive  to  be  the  truth. 
^  May  I  ask  your  contributor  who  has  been  investigating 

the  Cipher  whether,  apart  from  defects  and  irregularities  in 
Mrs.  Gallup's  interpretation,  he  has  found  any  fairly  consid- 
erable number  of  cipher  words  to  correspond  with  her  inter- 
pretation. No  one  could  weave  the  cipher  into  a  mass  of  print 
without  making  a  multitude  of  mistakes.  In  ordinary  hand- 
writing we  most  of  us  slur  over  scores  of  the  letters  we  intend 
to  form  legibly,  but  if  our  readers  can  read  the  majority  and 
see  what  we  mean  they  do  not  reject  the  whole  because  of  the 
defective  bits.  Of  course  the  double  types  confuse  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  Cipher,  but  Bacon  seems  to  have  deliberately  aimed 
at  confusion,  fearing  premature  discovery.  Thus  some  cipher 
students  tell  me  that  after  getting  on  fairly  well  for  a  time, 
they  will  suddenly  find  that,  though  the  two  kinds  of  type  still 
appear,  there  is  no  sense  to  be  luade  of  them,  until  they  dis- 
cover that,  from  the  appearance  of  a  particular  mark  until  its 
reappearance,  the  significance  of  the  a  and  h  founts  is  reversed. 
With  this  clue,  that  which  was  at  first  confusion  becomes  lumi- 
nous with  sense  again.  But,  though  no  newcomer  to  the  work 
can  hope  to  read  the  Cipher  successfully  throughout,  if  a  new- 
comer finds,  for  example,  that  he  can  identify  four  or  five  out 
of  every  dozen  words  that  Mrs.  Gallup  can  identify,  surely 
that  will  dismiss  the  theory  that  such  identities  can  be  acci- 
dental to  the  region  in  which  chances  are  expressed  by  millions 
to  one  against  accident.  For  the  rest,  of  course,  Mrs.  Gallup 
may  have  arbitrarily  interpreted  diphthongs  and  double  types 
to  suit  the  sense  of  the  passage,  as  any  one  in  dealing  with  writ- 
ing would  interpret  a  scrawl  at  the  end  of  a  word  as  sometinies 
meaning  "ing,"  sometimes  "ly,"  according  to  sense.     Or  when 

176 


she  has  found  a  long  word  like  (say)  "interpretation"  to  come 
out — i,  n,  then  a  group  of  five  letters  you  can  make  nothing  of, 
then  r,  p,  and  the  rest  of  the  word  right,  of  course  she  puts 
down  the  whole  word  "interpretation."  Or  perhaps  the  latter 
half  of  the  word  will  come  out  right  only  by  curtailing  some 
previous  group  of  some  of  its  proper  letters;  then,  of  course, 
the  sensible  thing  to  do  is  to  curtail  them  accordingly.  That 
is  the  principle  to  be  adopted  if  we  want  to  get  at  truth;  and 
if  we  find  i,  n,  right  and  p,  r,  e,  t,  a,  t,  i,  o,  n  right,  it  would 
surely  be  silly  to  cavil  at  the  absence  of  the  t,  e,  r,  or  at  any 

sort  of    confusion   in    the   beginning 

"Apart  from  the  Cipher,"  there  are  floods  of  reasons  for 
disbelieving  that  Shakespeare  could  have  written  the  Plays. 
Genius,  alowing  that  hypothesis,  might  have  given  him  lofty 
and  beautiful  thoughts,  but  no  genius  would  have  given  him 
detailed  familiarity  with  Chancery  law  and  foreign  languages, 
nor  with  the  contents  of  Bacon's  commonplace  book,  which 
must  have  been  in  the  possession  of  the  author  of  the  Plays, 
But  it  is  miserably  unjust  to  the  arguments  on  the  Baconian 
side  to  hint  at  them  in  such  few  words  as  these.  The  "ignor- 
ance" in  this  connection  is  to  be  found  rather  amongst  those 
who  idly  accept  the  old  tradition  than  in  the  camp  of  those  who 
are  endeavouring  to  clear  from  foul  slanders  the  memory  of 
one  whom  they  regard  as  the  greatest  Englishman  who  ever 
lived  and  the  rightful  sovereign  of  our  literary  allegiance.  We 
make  a  formidable  claim  on  such  men  as  Mr.  Sidney  Lee  when 
we  ask  them  to  abandon  a  tradition  around  which  they  have 
woven  a  great  mass  of  ingenious  imagination  in  the  effort  to 
account  for  that  which  Emerson  found  unaccountable — the 
contrast  between  the  little  that  is  actually  known  of  Shake- 
speare and  the  works  assigned  to  him.  "Other  admirable  men 
have  led  lives  in  some  sort  of  keeping  with  their-  thought,  but 
this  man  in  wide  contrast.'  But  the  glory  of  leading  the  homage 
that  has  so  long  been  misdirected  to  the  right  shrine  will 
surely  be  worth  the  sacrifice. 

A.    P.    SiNNETT. 

27,   Leinster-gardens,  W.,  Dec.  26,  1901. 


FRANCIS  BACON'S  BI-LITERAL  CYPHER. 

Surprise  has  been  expressed  that  I  have  not  more  fully 
replied  to  the  many  severe  and  unjust  criticisms  of  my  work — 
the  discovery  and  publication  of  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  of  Francis 
Bacon.  On  account  of  great  distance  causing  lapse  of  time, 
the  torrent  of  communications,  which  deluged  the  Times  and 
other  papers  and  magazines  in  London,  had  somewhat  sub- 
sided before  my  replies  to  any  could  be  returned  to  England, 
but  the  delay,  although  by  no  fault  of  ours  and  unavoidable, 
has  not  been  due  to  distance  alone. 

The  Times  published  two  short  letters  with  fair  promptness. 
The  Literary  World  gave  space  to  two  otliers,  replying  to 
articles  appearing  in  its  own  columns ;  and  the  Daily  News, 
of  April  30,  contained  a  part  of  my  answer  to  Sir  Henry 
Irving.  An  article  in  reply  to  some  of  the  critics,  prepared  for 
the  Pall  Mall  Magamne,  could  not,  from  prearrangement  of 
space,  appear  until  May — a  rather  late  date.  The  delay  was 
the  more  regretted  because  the  article  on  the  general  subject, 
published  in  the  March  number  of  the  same  magazine,  was 
prepared  and  sent  forward  before  the  criticisms  of  the  latter 
part  of  December  and  January  had  reached  me,  and,  though 
following  shortly  after,  was  in  no  way  a  reply. 

In  the  January  number  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  and 
After,  there  appeared  two  articles  of  attack  upon  the  Cypher. 
one  by  Mr.  Candler,  and  one  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Marston.  Mr. 
Marston,  I  understand,  is  a  member  of  the  firm  publishing  the 
magazine.  His  article  was  a  continuation  of  the  unfounded 
and  libelous  charges  appearing  in  the  Publishers'  Circular  and 
in  the  Times  concerning  myself  and  my  work.  T  replied  at 
length  and  forwarded  the  articles  to  Messrs.  Gay  &  Bird,  under 
date  of  February  5th,  desiring  that  the  denial  of  these  charges 
should  be  given  equal  prominence.  Electrotype  plates  were 
forwarded  for  illustration  of  the  technical  portions.     Plates  for 

179 


fac-simile  pages  from  the  two  editions  of  De  Aiigmcntis, 
affording  most  interesting  illustration  of  the  method  of  the 
cipher  and  of  the  differences  between  the  editions  of  1623 
and  1624,  were  also  furnished.  I  am  now  advised  by  Messrs. 
Gay  &  Bird  that  the  Nineteenth  Century,  the  Contemporary 
Review,  and  the  Times,  have  declined  to  publish  any  part  of 
these  articles. 

This  must  be  my  apology  for  now  issuing  in  pamphlet  form 
what  was  prepared  for  the  public  periodicals  and  should  have 
appeared  months  ago  as  part  of  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
that  is  of  interest  tc  a  large  number  of  readers.  The  reluctance 
of  the  press  in  general,  to  print  anything  Baconian  is  well  illus- 
trated in  this  refusal  of  my  critics  to  give  place  to  my  replies. 
I  do  not  think  it  should  be  considered  a  waste  of  space  *"C 
discuss  discoveries  that  correct  history  in  important  particulars. 
The  cipher  is  a  fact,  and  cannot  be  ignored.  It  is  neither 
imagination  nor  creation  of  mine.  It  is  a  part  of  the  history 
of  England,  and  effort  should  be  directed  to  further  investiga- 
tions along  the  lines  it  indicates — to  search  among  old  MSS., 
in  the  museums  and  libraries  and  in  the  archives  of  the  orov- 
ernment,  for  other  facts  which  in  the  light  of  the  cipher  revela- 
tions will  be  better  understood  than  they  have  been  in  the  past. 

Concerning  my  reply  to  Mr.  Marston's  charges,  I  am  in 
receipt  of  the  Literary  World  of  May  2nd,  which  over  his 
name  has  the  following : 

"Dear  Sir : — I  will  not  waste  your  space  replying 
at  length  10  Mrs.  Gallup,  except  to  ask  her  where  she 
has  replied  to  my  article  in  The  Nineteenth  Century 
for  January,  and  to  my  letters  in  The  Times? 

"In  your  columns  and  in  the  May  number  of  The 
Pall  Mall  Magazine  Mrs.  Gallup  says  she  has  elsezvhere 
replied  to  my  request  for  an  explanation  of  the  fact 
that  many  passages  in  what  she  says  is  Bacon's  transla- 
tion of  Homer  are  identical  with  Pope's  Homer  pub- 
lished more  than  200  years  afterward !      .      .      .      . 

"In  a  letter  in  The  Times  Mrs.  Gallup  did  suggest 
that  Bacon  and  Pope  had  used  some  edition  of  Homer 
unknown  to  any  one  else." 

In  the  above  we  note  the  strange  inconsistency  of  Mr. 
Marston,  for  my  letter  published  in  the  Times  did  not  "sug- 
gest" or  even  refer  to  any  edition  of  Homer  whatever.     His 

180 


reference  is  to  a  paragraph  in  my  reply  (printed  herewith)  to 
his  baseless  aspersions,  and  shows  conclusively  that  he  had 
read  my  refutation,  and  knew  that  in  the  article  submitted  to 
his  magazine  and  rejected  I  had  "elsewhere  replied"  to  his 
request. 

In  the  article  next  preceding  Mr.  Marston's  letter,  "Re- 
viewer" also  states :  "Now  as  to  Homer,  I  have  read  Mrs. 
Gallup's  'answer'  to  Mr.  Marston,"  etc. 

This  indicates  that  both  Mr.  Marston  and  "Reviewer"  had 
examined  my  article,  and  they  comment  upon  specific  portions 
of  it  before  it  has  been  published;  while  ordinary  courtesy 
should  have  withheld  criticism,  at  least  until  the  article  had 
appeared  in  print. 

It  may  not  be  inopportune  to  report  at  this  time  the  results 
of  researches  made  for  me  at  the  British  Museum  and  else- 
where, since  Mr.  Marston's  malicious  charge  of  "paraphrasing 
Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad"  was  made.  Fourteen  transla- 
tions in  Latin,  French,  German,  Italian  and  English,  pub- 
lished before  1620,  were  carefully  examined  for  the  reading  in 
the  disputed  passages.  Bacon's  "impatient  arrow"  is  "eager 
shaft"  in  Chapman's  translation,  and  "long  distance  shots"  is 
rendered  "his  hitting  so  far  ofif,"  the  Greek  words  conveying 
the  same  idea  to  these  two  minds.  Mr.  Marston  matched 
Bacon's  "cold  Dodona"  against  Pope's  "cold  Dodona,"  but 
Hobbes  has  "Dodona  cold,"  and  a  modern  Greek  scholar  ren- 
ders it  "chilly  Dodona."  He  also  pairs  "rocky  Aulis"  with  the 
same  in  Pope,  but  gives  it  as  the  literal  translation  also;  and 
he  places  Bacon's  "he  leapt  to  the  ground"  opposite  Pope's 
"leaps  upon  the  ground,"  while  it  is  more  like  the  line  of 
Hobbes,  "he  leapt  to  land."  Another  renders  this  "he  leap'd 
to  the  land,"  and  still  another,  "he  leaped  upon  the  earth." 

The  examination  also  developed  the  fact  that  Pope's  orig- 
inal MSS.,  preserved  at  the  Museum,  have  closer  resemblances 
to  Bacon's  Argument  of  the  Iliad  than  are  found  in  Pope's 
published  work.  This  is  very  significant,  and  in  itself  refutes 
the  charge,  as  I  have  never  seen  the  MSS.,  and  the  first  edition 
of  my  book  containing  the  Argument  of  the  Iliad  was  pub- 
lished the  year  before  I  went  to  England  to  pursue  the  work 
at  the  British  Museum. 

181 


In  Bacon's  Argument  we  find :         . 

"Pcneleus,  Leitus,  Prothoenor,  joyned  with  Arcesilaus  and 
bold  Clonius,  equall  in  arms  and  in  command,  led  Boeotia's 
hosts." 

This  in  his  fuller  poem  appears : 

"Peneleus,  Leitus,  and  Prothoenor, 
Join'd  with  Arcesilaus  and  hold  Clonius — 
Two  equal  men  in  arms  and  in  command — 
Led  forth  Boeotia's  hosts." 
Pope's  MS.  at  the  British  Museum  reads : 

"The  hardy  warriors  whom  Boeotia  bred 
Bold  Clonius  Leitus  and  Peneleus  led." 
But  these  were  afterward  emended  to  suit  his  verse,  and 
the  printed  lines  are: 

"The  hardy  warriors  whom  Boeotia  bred, 
Penelius,  Leitus,  Prothoenor  led : 
With  these  Arcesilaus  and  Clonius  stand 
Equal  in  arms  and  equal  in  command." 
By  these  comparisons  we  see  that,  in  the  printed  poem, 
Clonius  has  lost  his  boldness  and  Peneleus  has  changed  the 
spelling  of  his  name. 

Again  in  the  original  MS.  we  find : 

"When  first  I  led  my  troops  to  Phaea's  wall 
And  heard  fair  Jardan's  silver  waters  fall." 
But  in  Pope's  printed  poem  it  reads  : 

"When  fierce  in  war,  where  Jardan's  waters  fall, 
I  led  my  troops  to  Phea's  trembling  wall," 
In  this  place  Bacon  omits  all  mention  of  the  Jardan,  but  in 
the  catalogue  of  the  ships  he  says,  "Phsestus,  by  the  silver  Jar- 
dan."  Chapman  gives  the  name  of  the  river,  Jardanus,  an- 
other translator  speaks  of  the  Jardan,  but  Mr.  Marston,  I 
notice,  writes  the  word  lardus. 

In  his  MS.  Pope  had  "hilly  Eteon"  ;  Bacon  wrote  "hillie 
Eteon" ;  but  Pope's  printed  work  has  "Eteon's  hills." 

It  is  conceded  that  Pope  followed  Ogilby  very  closely. 
There  may  be  some  interesting  developments  in  the  history  of 
the  latter.  We  know  that  he  was  much  employed  about  Gray's 
Inn,  and  that  he  was  afterward  taught  Greek  and  Latin  by  the 
Oxford  students  to  enable  him  to  translate  Homer  and  Virgil. 

182 


One  thing  needs  no  demonstration,  that  there  was  nothing  in 
Bacon's  Homer  that  made  it  necessary  to  keep  it  concealed 
before  or  after  it  was  put  in  cipher.  Upon  that  point  he  says 
that  cipher  writing  became  so  much  a  habit,  and  pastime,  that 
he  embodied  many  things  in  it  not  necessarily  secret.  I 
quote : 

''And  yet  I  have  also  emploied  my  cyphers  for  other  then 
secret  matters  in  many  of  my  later  bookes,  because  it  hath 
now  become  so  much  an  act  of  habite,  I  am  at  a  losse  at  this 
present  having  less  dificile  labour,  now,  then  in  former  times 
in  Her  Ma.'s  service." — Bi-literal  Cypher,  p.  66. 

In  the  matter  of  criticism  and  expression  of  individual 
opinion,  we  might  quote  from  Bacon's  Essay  of  Custom  and 
Education :  "Men's  thoughts  are  much  according  to  their 
inclination ;  their  discourse  and  speeches  according  to  their 
learning  and  infused  opinions,  but  their  deeds  are  after  as  they 
have  been  accustomed. 

EUZABETH  WEL13  GaI^LUP. 

Detroit,  Mich.,  May  15,  1902. 


183 


REPLIES  TO  CRITICISMS. 

Elizabeth  Wei^ls  GaIvIvUP. 

In  presenting  the  results  of  my  work  in  deciphering  the  bi- 
literal  cypher,  I  expected  criticism,  but  it  has  taken  on  some 
features  that  have  been  quite  surprising  to  me. 

To  answer  fittingly  all  the  questions  raised  would  be  to 
write  a  book.  Some  are  relevant,  many  not ;  some  are  prompted 
by  desire  for  knowledge,  others  by  a  desire  to  check  what  they 
regard  as  a  heresy;  most  show  unfamiliarity  with  the  subject, 
and  not  a  few  are  mistaken  in  their  statements  of  facts. 

REPLY  TO  MR.  CANDLER. 

Mr.  Candler,  in  the  January  number  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  republishes  modified  portions  of  an  article  that 
appeared  in  Baconiana  to  which  I  replied  some  time  since,  send- 
ing a  copy  of  my  article  to  him  and  to  that  magazine. 

Mr.  Candler  makes  his  objections  under  the  heads :  His- 
tory, Language,  Arithmetical  Puzzles,  Geography,  Proper 
Names,  and  Bacon's  Poetry. 

HISTORY. 

As  to  History,  I  can  only  say,  if  the  decipherings  had  been 
my  own  invention,  I  should  have  had  them  in  substantial  accord 
with  such  records  as  exist,  defective  as  they  now  appear.  Had 
I  "followed"  accepted  history,  and  prevailing  ideas,  and 
found  in  the  cipher  confirmation  of  what  people  wish  to  have 
true,  I  should  have  received  encomiums  due  to  an  important 
discovery,  and  commendation  for  great  skill  and  industry  in 
working  it  out. 

It  was  my  misfortune  that  the  cipher  would  not  read  that 
way,  and  no  preconceived  notions  of  my  own  could  affect  it. 
As  I  have  elsewhere  said  "the  facts  of  history"  is  an  elastic 
term,  and  means  to  the  individual  that  portion  which  the  indi- 
vidual has  learned.  The  records  are  by  no  means  in  accord, 
and  discrepancies  may  well  be  left  to  the  investigators,  whose 

184 


revisions  from  data  they  may  hereafter  be  able  to  collect  may 
greatly  change  existing  ideas.  The  decipherer  is  in  no  way 
responsible  for  the  disclosures  of  the  cipher,  nor  allowed  specu- 
lation as  to  the  probabilities  in  the  case.  One  question  only  is 
admissible — what  does  the  cipher  tell  ? 

LANGUAGE. 

Under  Language,  Mr.  Candler  makes  five  subdivisions. 

1.  "It  was  the  English  custom  to  use  his  in  connection  with 
inanimate  objects  where  we  now  use  its.  This  custom  died  out 
about  1670." 

This  first  objection  is  answered  by  himself,  but  in  this  con- 
nection he  states : 

"Its  (or  earlier,  it's)  began  to  creep  into  literature  about  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  though  doubtless  it  was  used  col- 
loquially at  an  earlier  date." 

As  to  his  other  deductions  on  this  point,  I  cannot  speak  from 
knowledge,  but  whoever  put  out  the  First  Folio  was  certainly 
not  averse  to  the  use  of  its.  In  my  former  paper  in  Baconiana 
I  gave  from  the  Shakespeare  folio  ten  examples  of  the  use  of  the 
word.  As  there  is  no  punctuation  in  the  cipher,  I  am  unable  to 
determine  which  form  Bacon  used,  it's  or  its,  but  that  he  used 
the  word  frequently  in  some  parts  of  the  cipher  and  not  at  all 
in  others,  any  reader  may  easily  see.  Thereof,  of  which  Mr. 
Candler  speaks,  though  more  rarely  found  was  occasionally 
used. —  (See  Bi-literal  Cypher,  p.  30, 1.  4;  p.  61,  1.  24.) 

2.  "From  the  date  1000  or  earlier,  we  find  many  instances 
of  his  used  instead  of  .$•  in  the  possessive  case,  and  similarly,  for 
the  sake  of  uniformity,  of  her  and  their.  .  .  .  But  in 
Bacon,  after  a  diligent  collation  of  a  great  many  pages,  I  find 
the  general  use  of  .?  without  an  apostrophe  for  the  possessive 
case  both  for  singular  and  plural,  and  no  use  of  his,  her,  or  their 
in  this  sense.  When  a  noun  ends  with  an  s  sound.  Bacon  joins 
the  two  words  without  a  connecting  s.  Thus :  'Venus 
minion,'  'St.  Ambrose  learning,'  and  the  curious  form  'Achille's 
fortune,'  which  may  be  a  printer's  error,  as  the  apostrophe  here 
is  in  the  wrong  place.  All  these  come  from  1640  edition  of  the 
Advancement  of  Learning,  Books  i,  2." 

In  a  footnote  Mr.  Candler  speaks  of  the  seven  instances  sent 
him  of  the  disputed  form,  but  I  wish  to  give  them  here.     Henry 

185 


Seventh,  (1622),  "King  Henry  his  quarrell,"  p.  24;  the  Con- 
spiratours  their  intentions,"  p.  124;  "King  Edward  Sixt  his 
time,"  p.  145;  "King  Henrie  the  Eight  his  resolution  of  a 
Divorce,"  p.  196;  "King  James  his  Death,"  p.  208.  Also  in 
Advancement  of  Learning  (1605),  Book  i,  "Socrates  his 
ironicall  doubting,"  p.  26;  and  one  may  see,  "Didymus  his 
Freedman."  in  the  Tacitus.  How  many  instances  does  he 
"lisfi  ? 

Mr.  Candler  further  says:  "Anti  now  for  the  'Bacon'  of 
Mrs.  Gallup.  Turning  casually  over  the  leaves  of  her  story  I 
find  'Solomon,  his  temple,'  p.  24;  'England,  her  inheritance,' 
p.  22;  'man,  his  right,'  p.  23  and  p.  24;  'my  dear  lord,  his 
misdeeds,'  p.  43;  'the  roial  soveraigne,  'lis  eies,'  p.  59;  'Cor- 
nelia, her  example ;'  'the  sturdy  yeouien,  their  support ;'  'a 
mother,  her  hopes ;'  'woman,  her  spirit ;'  and,  curiously  enough, 
where  we  might  have  expected  an  Elizabethan  to  have  employed 
his  'Achilles'  mind,'  p.  302." 

Aside  from  the  apostrophe,  which  could  not  of  course  be 
placed  in  cipher  in  the  one  case — suggested  as  a  printer's  error 
in  the  other — the  forms  "Achilles  fortune"  and  "Achilles  mind" 
are  the  same.  We  have  the  following  examples  and  many 
others  of  the  first  form  also  in  the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  (omitting 
apostrophes,)  "Elizabeths  raigne,"  p.  4;  "Kings  daughter," 
ibid. ;  "loves  first  blossom,"  "lifes  girlod,"  p.  5 ;  "stones 
throw,"  "Edwards  sire,"  p.  6;  "lions  whelp,"  p.  7,  etc.,  etc.,  etc., 
and  we  see  that  both  forms  are  used  in  the  published  works  and 
in  cipher. 

3.  Mr.  Candler  says  :  "It  was  the  custom  to  finish  the  verb 
with  s  after  plural  nouns,  as  if  it  were  the  third  person  singular," 
but  complains  that  I  do  not  recognize  this  in  the  deciphered 
work. 

In  two  plays  fifteen  instances  were  found,  seven  of  which  are 
with  the  verb  is  or  the  abbreviation  's.  In  the  Bi-literal  Cypher, 
p.  177, 1.  9,  Bacon  speaks  of  "Illes  which  is  laid  by  for  the  good 
opportunitie."     There  are  undoubtedly  other  examples. 

4.  "Mrs.  Gallup's  'Bacon'  is  repeatedly  quoting  from  his 
own  published  works  and  from  the  plays  of  Shakespeare." 

A  reason  is  given  for  this,  in  the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  p.  23. 
There  are  many  examples  also  in  Bacon's  open  works,  e.  g., 

186 


""Females  of  Seditions"  is  found  in  Henry  Seventh,  p.   137, 
while  in  Essay,  Seditions  and  Troubles,  it  appears  in  this  form : 
"Seditious  tumults  and  seditious  fames  differ  no  more  but  as 
brother  and  sister,  masculine  and  feminine." 
From  the  Shakespeare  plays  we  have, 

"we  see 

The  waters  swell  before  a  boyst'rous  storme." — Rich.  Ill, 

This  occurs  again  as  follows:  "And  as  there  are  cer- 
tain hollow  blasts  of  w  ind  and  secret  swellings  of  seas  before  a 
tempest." — Ess.  Seditions  and  Troubles.  Also  this  :  "Times 
answerable,  like  waters  after  a  tempest,  full  of  working  and 
swelling." — Avdt.  of  L.  (1605),  Book  2,  p.  13. 

A  like  recurrence  is  found  in  these :  "And  as  in  the  Tides  of 
People  once  up  there  want  not  commonly  stirring  winds  to 
make  them  rough." — Henry  Sez'enth,  p.  164;  "For  as  the  aun- 
"Ciente  in  politiques  in  popular  Estates  were  woont  to  Compare 
the  people  to  the  sea,  and  the  Orators  to  the  winds  because  as 
the  sea  would  of  itselfe  be  caulm  and  quiet,  if  the  windes  did 
not  moove  and  trouble  it ;  so  the  people  would  be  peaceable  and 
tractable  if  the  seditious  orators  did  not  set  them  in  working 
and  agitation." — Advt.  of  L.  (1605),  Book  2,  2nd  p.  yy. 

Many  of  the  culled  expressions  in  Bacon's  Promus  are 
employed  in  the  cipher,  as  I  have  already  found.  When  the 
same  incidents  are  related  in  the  w^ord-cipher  that  are  given  in 
the  biliteral,  large  passages  must  appear  in  both  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher  and  Bacon's  open  works. 

•5.  Mr.  Candler  makes  a  series  of  verbal  distinctions,  as 
follows :  "There  are,  I  think,  words  used  in  the  cipher  story 
in  quite  a  wrong  sense.  I  will  give  instances :  'Gems  rare  and 
costive.'  Murray  gives  no  example  of  costive  meaning  costly. 
*I  am  innocuous  of  any  ill  to  Elizabeth.'  Neither  Murray 
nor  Webster  gives  any  example  of  'innocuous  of,'  i.  e.,  'inno- 
cent of,'  though  innocuous  may  mean  innocent.  Shakespeare 
does  not  use  the  word. 

'Surcease'  is  a  good  enough  word,  but  'surcease  of  sorrow' 
is  used  by  Poe,  an  American  author ;  and  the  use  of  the  phrase 
by  Mrs.  Gallup's  'Bacon'  makes,  one  wonder  whether  he  had 
ever  read  The  Raven. 


187 


'Cognomen,'  p.  29.  No  instance  given  in  Murray  earlier 
than  1809.  'Desiderata/  p.  161.  No  instance  of  'desideratum' 
earlier  than  1652. 

'Hand  and  glove,'  p.  359.    Earliest  instance  in  Murray,  1680. 

'Cognizante'  adj.  Earliest  example  in  Murray,  1820.  Mur- 
ray says,  'Apparently  of  modern  introduction;  not  in  diction- 
aries of  the  eighteenth  century ;'  .  .  .  (cognisance  is  quite 
early,  both  as  a  law  term  and  in  literary  use.)" 

These  are  refinements  beyond  reason.  Bacon  added  thou- 
sands of  new  words  and  new  uses  of  words  to  the  language. 
There  is  something  applicable  to  the  case  in  the  Advancement  of 
Learning  ( 1 605 ) . 

"I  desire  it  may  bee  conceived  that  I  use  the  word  in  a  differ- 
ing sense  from  that  that  is  receyved,"and"I  sometimes  alter  the 
uses  and  definitions." — Book  2,  pp.  24-25. 

Had  the  word  costive  occurred  but  once  I  should  have  con- 
sidered it  intended  for  costlye  as  we  find  it  in  Bacon.  He  may 
have  used  a  v  where  y  was  intended. 

It  is  true  innocuous,  from  the  Latin  innocuus,  in  the  diction- 
aries is  used  only  of  things,  but  Bacon  evidently  employed  it 
differently,  and  wrote  "innocuous  of  ill"  as  he  would  have 
written  "not  guilty  of  crime."  In  Anatomy  of  Melancholy 
(1621)  we  find  "Northerne  men,  innocuous,  free  from  riot" 
(p.  82),  and  "The  patient  innocuous  man." 

Surcease  is  used  in  the  Shakespeare  plays — Cor.,  Act  3 ; 
Rom.  &  Jul.,  Act  4;  Macb.,  Act  i.  It  is  in  Lucrece,  and  also 
occurs  in  Bacon's  acknoweldged  works.  He  had,  perhaps,  as 
good  reason  as  Poe  to  desire  'surcease  of  sorrow.' 

Certainly,  Bacon  had  a  right  to  use  words  existing  in  any 
language.  We  know  that  he  anglicized  many  from  the  Latin 
and  the  French.  Cognomen  is  of  course  from  the  Latin ;  desi- 
derata, Mr.  Candler  admits,  was  used  in  1652;  cognizante — or 
as  it  is  elsewhere  spelled  in  the  cipher,  cognisant — might  be 
allowed  him  on  the  ground  that  cognisances  was  certainly  in 
use. — Henry  Seventh,  p.  211;  i  Hen.  VI.,  Act  2;  Jul.  Caesar, 
Act  2 ;  Cym.,  Act  2. 

ARITHMETICAL  PUZZLES. 

Mr.  Candler  is  also  inaccurate  in  his  arithmetic.  He  has  not 
carefully  read  pp.  66  and  67,  where  it  is  explained  that  Latin 
letters,  called  by  us  Roman,  were  used  in  a  few  dedications. 

188 


prologues,  etc.  I  did  not  find  these  employed  until  the  publica- 
tions of  1623 — in  the  folio  and  Vitse  et  Mortis.  I  have  also 
shown  elsewhere  that,  at  the  end  of  short  sections  that  did  not 
join  with  other  works,  there  were  occasionally  a  few  letters 
more  in  the  exterior  passage  than  were  required  for  the  enfolded 
portion.  These  are  nulls  and  not  used.  Mr.  Candler  gives 
the  number  of  letters  in  the  catalogue  of  the  plays  as  850  and 
says  the  portion  extracted  required  860.  Both  numbers  are 
wTong.  The  cipher  enfolded  required  855  letters,  and  that  is 
the  exact  number  of  letters  in  the  catalogue  when  the  Roman 
type  is  included  and  the  diphthongs  and  digraphs  are  regarded 
as  separate  letters. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

Just  what  Mr.  Candler  would  have  us  understand  by  refer- 
ring to  the  incorrect  geography  in  the  plays  is  not  quite  cleai. 
It  has  no  relevance  to  the  cipher  nor  does  it  determine  whether 
Bacon  or  Shakespeare  would  suffer  most  from  the  criticism. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  next  paragraph  under  "Proper 
Names,"  for  it  was,  and  is,  at  least  poetic  license  to  change  the 
pronunciation  in  that  manner;  and  as  to  the  spelling  of  Iliad 
on  page  176  of  the  Bi-literal,  we  have  in  Troilus  and  Cressida 
a  parallel  in,  "  as  they  passe  toward  Illium."  Neither  spelling 
nor  pronunciation  were  well  defined  arts  in  Bacon's  day  or  in 
Bacon's  books. 

bacon's  poetry. 

The  quoted  verse  of  this  "concealed  poet"  speaks  for  itself, 
and  on  this  point  I  may  well  be  silent,  except  to  say  the  partic- 
ular poetry  Mr.  Candler  condemns  is  said  to  have  been  written 
on  a  sick  bed  at  the  age  of  sixty-two. 

It  is  amusing  to  see  how  many  plans  are  made  for  Bacon  by 
these  critics,  how  many  things  are  pointed  out  that  he  might, 
or  should  have  done.  Their  long  experience  in  surmising 
what  Shakespeare  may,  can,  must,  might,  could,  would,  or 
should  have  done  in  order  to  reconcile  asserted  facts  has  given 
them  the  habit  of  "guessing." 

Mr.  Canrller  adds  some  footnotes,  in  one  of  which  he  quotes : 
"  'Mrs.  Gallup,  when  challenged,  failed  to  point  out  the  cipher, 
an  easy  matter  if  it  really  existed ;  and  now  avows  that  without 
extraordinary  faculties  and  a  kind  of  "inspiration,"  none,  save 

189 


herself,  need  expect  to  perceive  it.'  "  And  adds,  "It  should 
be  understood  that  the  President  and  Council  of  the  Baconian 
Society  enter  a  formal  caveat  that  nothing  in  Mrs.  Gallup's 
interpretation  can  be  said  to  have  been  satisfactorily  proved." 

I  remember  very  well  the  evening  to  which  the  extract  from 
Baconiana  refers,  when,  upon  the  invitation  of  a  member  of  the 
legal  profession,  my  sister  and  myself  explained  to  two  prom- 
inent Baconians  the  method  and  scope  of  our  work.  In  theory, 
they  accepted — or  seemed  to  accept — what  is  unmistakably  true, 
that  for  different  sizes  of  type, — pica,  small  pica,  English,  etc. 
Bacon  arranged  different  alphabets.  It  was  shown  that  one 
size  of  ornamental  capitals  belonged  to  the  'a  fount,'  in  another 
size  the  ornamental  letters  belonged  to  the  'b  fount.'  This  was 
admitted  as  very  possible,  even  probable,;  yet  when  this  was 
applied  to  practical  demonstration  of  what  Bacon  did,  they 
exclaimed :  "Impossible ! !"  "Bacon  never  would  have  done 
that!  etc.,  etc."  This  could  not  be  thought  a  receptive  frame 
of  mind,  and  just  how  they  knew  what  Bacon  would  not  have 
done  I  cannot  tell. 

Afterward  I  showed  them  which  letters  belonged  to  the  'b 
fount,'  in  a  number  of  lines  of  the  Dedicatory  Epistle  of  Spen- 
ser's Complaints,  in  no  single  instance  varying  from  the  marking 
of  the  manuscript  from  which  my  book  was  printed.  This  was 
candidly  admitted,  yet,  when  this  interview  was  reported,  it 
read  as  above  quoted. 

When  I  first  put  out  the  cipher,  I  thought  any  one  who  would 
take  the  time  could  decipher  all  that  I  have  done,  but  when  I 
found  people  who  could  not  distinguish  between  this  %>  and  tt> 
to  say  nothing  of  obscure  o's  and  ^'s,  I  despaired  of  their  be- 
coming decipherers.  There  are,  of  course,  many  who  have  a 
correct  eye  for  form,  who  will  be  able  in  time  to  overcome  the 
difficulties  this  study  presents,  but  I  wish  to  ask  Mr.  Candler 
if  he  does  not  think  the  small  a's,  c's,  etc.,  of  the  Latin  illus- 
tration in  Dc  Augmentis  Scientiarnm,  which  he  says  a  child 
could  manage,  quite  as  bewildering  as  any  of  the  Italic  letters 
elsewhere? 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Candler's  article  he  desires  that  I  "get 
together  a  few  men  who  know  something  about  books,  and  add 
to  them  a  printer  or  two,   familiar  with  types,  new  and  old; 

190 


between  them  if  they  extract  a  consecutive  narrative 
there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said."  I  have  extended  this  invita- 
tion many  times,  only  to  have  it  poHtely  declined.  The  Editor 
of  the  Times  refused,  more  than  a  year  ago,  to  consider  this 
request.  Now,  having  practically  lost  the  use  of  my  eyes  for 
such  close  work  as  this  entails,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  forego,  for 
a  time  at  least,  until  a  greater  degree  of  strength  has  returned, 
the  satisfaction  it  would  be  to  point  out  in  detail  to  a  committee 
the  various  dififerences,  though  it  seems  to  me  they  should  be 
readily  observable  without  my  aid.  In  the  meantime  I  rest  in 
confidence  that  it  will  be  correctly  done  by  some  one,  somewhere 
and  sometime. 


101 


REPLY  TO  MR.  MARSTON. 

It  seems  rather  infantile  to  call  attention  to  the  spelling,  but 
as  Mr.  Marston  deems  it  of  sufficient  importance  to  draw  from 
it  the  following  inference,  he  must  think  it  serious.  I  quote 
from  the  Times  of  January  3 :  "The  whole  thing  is  so  trans- 
parently a  concoction  that  a  school  boy  who  was  reading  this 
deciphered  Tragedy  asks:  'Was  Bacon  a  Yankee?  He  spells 
words  like  "labour"  and  "honour"  without  the  "u".'  " 

I  would  reply  that  he  was  the  same  person  that  wrote  the 
Shakespeare  plays.  The  folio  shows  both  ways  of  spelling. 
But  all  the  word-cipher  productions  were  printed  according  to 
modern  American  usage,  as  in  this  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn. 

Mr.  Marston  emphasizes  the  matter  by  a  second  allusion  to 
this  peculiarity  as  discrediting  my  work,  in  the  following 
words :  "And  Mrs.  Gallup  asks  the  world  to  believe  Bacon 
wrote  this  'new  drama'  in  order  to  vindicate  the  'honor'  of  his 
grandmother." 

A  few  minutes'  examination  shows,  in  the  first  four  plays  of 
Shakespeare,  forty-four  instances  of  the  spelling  of  honor,  with- 
out the  ti,  against  twenty-five  occurrences  of  the  word  with  the 
n.  For  the  spelling  of  labor,  I  will  take  time  and  space  to  quote 
only  a  single  line  from  the  first  folio : 

"There  be  some  Sports  are  painfull  and  their  labor — " 
Tern.  3-1-1. 

These  words  occur  in  the  cipher  story,  as  in  the  plays,  spelled 
both  ways.* 

This  suggests  one  thing  of  value  to  present  day  readers  of 
the  plays  who  do  not  know,  or  do  not  stop  to  consider,  that 
modern  editions  differ  greatly,  and  in  important  particulars, 
from  the  original  editions,  both  spelling  and  grammar  having 
been  modified,  while  in  some  parts,  whole  paragraphs  of  the 
text  are  omitted  to  meet  the  ideas  of  what  the  particular  editor 
thoiight  the  author  should  have  said. 

Mr.  Marston,  in  theNineteenth  Century,  continues  an  argu- 
ment first  put  forth  in  the  Times,  and  further  illustrated  in  the 
Publishers'  Circidar,  attempting  to  prove  that,  because  certain 
fragments  of  the  Iliad,  in  the  Bi-literal  Cypher,  deciphered  from 

*Even  present  day  London  writers  are  not  in  accord  in  the  use  of  "u," 
for  I  find  in  the  Times,  "font  of  type."      Mr.  Marston  and  others  write 
fount.".  .Are  the  writings  of  "A  Correspondent"  in  the  Times  to  be  dis- 
credited for  following  the  American  method? 

192 


the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  of  1628,  are  similar  to  Pope's  ver- 
sion of  the  same  passages,  the  whole  long  story  comprising 
385  pages — about  300  of  which  relate  to  matters  entirely 
foreign  to  the  Iliad — must  be  a  conscious  fraud,  and  that  "bold 
lie"  is  the  key  to  the  whole  matter.  It  was  hardly  a  courteous 
expression,  and  I  have  every  confidence  that  Mr.  Marston  will, 
after  more  careful  investigation,  retract  it. 

Any  statement  that  I  copied  from  Pope,  or  from  any  source 
whatever,  the  matter  put  forth  as  deciphered  from  Bacon's 
works,  is  false  in  every  particidar. 

It  will  be  noted  that  Mr.  Marston  makes  no  attempt  to  prove 
the  cipher,  but  bases  his  convictions  regarding  the  book  upon 
this  one  point  of  similarity,  in  an  insignificant  portion  of  it, 
to  Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad. 

As  it  chanced,  I  had  read  Pope  to  some  extent  in  the  rhetori- 
cal studies  of  my  school  days,  but  had  never  re-read  his  Homer 
until  Mr.  Marston  called  attention  to  it.  I  now  see  a  similarity 
in  some  expressions,  and  in  the  arrangement  of  names,  in  that 
portion  devoted  to  the  catalogue  of  the  ships.  Bacon's  direc- 
tions for  writing  out  the  Iliad  (by  the  word-cipher,  p.  170),  sug- 
gest that  at  that  time  he  had  not  made  as  full  preparation  for 
writing  out  the  catalogue  as  for  the  remainder  of  the  work, 
and  this  seems  significant. 

I  do  not  find  any  striking  resemblances  in  the  other  parts, 
and,  as  I  stated  in  a  recent  communication  to  the  Times,  in 
an  examination  of  six  English  translations  and  one  Latin,  I 
found  that  each  might  with  equal  justice  be  considered  a  para- 
phrase of  Pope,  or  that  he  had  copied  his  predecessors.  Why, 
among  several  translations  of  the  same  Greek  text,  two  having 
both  resemblances  and  differences  should  be  classed  together, 
and  one  should  necessarily  be  a  copy  of  the  other,  is  not  clear  to 
me.  Knowing  that  Pope's  was  considered  the  least  correct  of 
several  of  the  English  translations,  yet,  perhaps,  the  best 
known  for  its  poetic  grace,  it  is  hardly  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  I  should  have  copied  his,  had  I  been  dependent  upon  any 
translation  for  the  deciphered  matter. 

Bacon  says  his  earliest  work  upon  the  Iliad  was  done  under 
instructors.  There  were  Latin  translations  extant  in  his  day, 
which  were  equally  accessible  to  Pope  a  century  later.    A  simi- 


19: 


larity  might  have  arisen  from  a  study  by  both  of  the  same 
Latin  text.  George  Chapman,  in  1598,  complained  vigorously 
that  some  one  had  charged  him  with  translating  his  Iliad  from 
the  Latin,  and  abusively  replied.  Theodore  Alois  Buckley,  in 
his  introduction  to  Pope's  Iliad,  says  he  was  "not  a  Grecian" 
and  that  he  doubtless  formed  his  poem  upon  Ogilby's  transla- 
tion, besides  consulting  friends  who  were  better  classical  schol- 
ars than  himself. 

But  all  this  is  of  small  importance,  for  it  is  inconclusive.  The 
question  is,  did  I  find  this  argument  of  the  Iliad  in  differing 
founts  of  Italic  type  in  the  text  of  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  f 

I  have  had  set  up  by  our  printers  from  my  MS.  two  sections 
of  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy^  from  which  were  taken  some 
passages  Mr.  Marston  quotes.  Modern  Italic  type  has  to  be 
used,  of  course,  and  the  two  founts  will  be  easily  distinguish- 
able. They  are  so  marked  as  unmistakably  to  indicate  how  the 
differing  forms  are  used.  A  reference  to  an  original  copy  of 
the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  (1628),  which  may  be  seen  in  the 
British  Museum,  or  in  the  fine  library  of  Sir  Edwin  Durning- 
Lawrence,  will  quickly  show  whether  or  not  I  have  used  all 
the  Italic  letters  in  the  text,  whether  they  are  of  differing 
forms  as  marked  in  this,  whether  they  have  been  properly 
grouped,  and,  when  the  bi-literal  cipher  is  applied,  whether  they 
produce  the  results  I  have  printed.  If  the  types  are  of  differing 
forms,  are  properly  grouped,  and  produce,  by  the  bi-literal 
method,  the  results  printed,  the  question  of  identities  or  simili- 
tudes is  eliminated  from  the  discussion. 

I  am  aware  that  in  offering  this  evidence  in  this  way,  I  am 
at  a  serious  disadvantage.  The  true  classification  of  the 
types  was  determined  after  days  of  examination  and  compari- 
son of  hundreds  of  the  old  letters,  until  every  shade,  and  line, 
and  curve  of  those  I  marked  was  familiar,  and  as  thoroughly 
impressed  upon  my  memory  as  the  features  of  a  friend,  while 
to  those  making  this  comparison  the  letters  themselves  will  be 
new,  the  number  examined  probably  limited  to  those  in  a  few 
sentences,  and  by  eyes  entirely  unskilled  in  this  kind  of  exam- 
ination. 

Mr.  Marston  refers  to  my  use  of  an  edition  of  the  Anatomy 
of  Melancholy,  published  after  Bacon's  death,  as  evidence  that 

194 


I  may  be  wrong.  The  edition  I  used  was  that  of  1628,  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  William  Rawley.  Concerning  this  and  Rawley's 
work,  I  had  found  in  deciphering  Sylva  Sylvarum,  the  follow- 
ing statement  from  Rawley  himself : 

"When,  however,  you  find  this  change  ....  where  I  beganne  th' 
worke,  you  shall  pause  awhile,  then  use  the  alphabet  as  it  is  heerein 
employ'd  and  as  explain'd  in  my  preceding  epistle.  It  will  thus  be  like  a 
new  alphabet  and  doubtlesse  will  bee  troublesome,  yet  can  bee  conn'd  while 
some  had  to  be  discover'd ;  but  in  respect  of  a  probable  familiaritie  with 
th'  worke,  and  the  severall  diverse  methods  employed  oft  by  his  lordship, 
this  may  by  no  meanes  be  requir'd,  since  th'  wit  that  could  penetrate  such 
mysteries  surely  needeth  no  setti'g  forth  and  enlarging  of  mine. 

Ere  the  whole  question  be  dropt,  however,  let  me  bid  you  go  on  to  my 
larger  and  fully  arranged  table  where  th'  storie,  or  epistle,  is  finish'd  as  it 
should  have  beene  had  his  lordship  lived  to  compleat  it,  since  my  part  was 
but  that  of  th'  hand,  and  I  did  write  only  that  portion  which  was  not  us'd 
at  th'  time.  All  this  was  duely  composed  and  written  out  by  his  hand,  and 
may  bee  cherish'd. 

From  his  penne,  too,  works  which  now  bear  th'  name  Burton  .... 
make  useful  those  portions  which  could  by  noe  means  bee  adapted  to 
dramaticall  writings.  If  you  do  not  use  them  as  you  decypher  th'  interiour 
epistles,  so  conceal'd,  your  story  shall  not  be  compleat. 

Th'  workes  are  in  three  divisio's,  entitled  Melancholy,  its  Anatomy. 
Additons  to  this  booke  have  beene  by  direction  of  Lord  Verullam,  himselfe, 
often  by  his  hand,  whilst  th'  interiour  letter,  carried  in  a  number  of 
ingenious  cyphers  mentioned  above,  is  from  his  pen,  and  is  the  same  in 
every  case  that  he  would  have  used  in  these  workes,  for  his  is,  in  verie  truth, 
worke  cut  short  by  th'  sickel  of  Death." 

This  edition  of  Burton  was  the  only  old  book  in  hand  at  the 
time  of  its  deciphering,  and,  having  found  the  cipher  in  it,  I 
continued  work  upon  it,  though  its  contents  were  a  serious  dis- 
appointment, and  I  have  since  greatly  regretted  the  time  and 
strength  spent  upon  what  was  of  so  little  value,  and  of  no 
interest  historically  as  relating  to  the  personality  of  Bacon  or 
the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Has  it  been  noted  by  Mr.  Marston,  -> 
or  by  others  who  have  been  incredulous  about  this  book,  that 
Burton  in  the  appendix  to  his  will  does  not  include  the  Anatomy 
of  Melancholy  in  "such  books  as  are  written  with  mine  own 
hands"  ?  While  this  might  not  be  conclusive,  it  is,  in  the  light 
of  the  cipher  revelations,  a  very  significant  omission.  I  add  here 
that  the  first  edition  was  published  in  the  name  of  T.  Bright, 
under  the  title  of  A  Treatise  of  Melancholy,  in  1586,  when 
Burton  was  ten  years  old  and  Bacon  twenty-five.  As  the 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  it  was  issued  in  Rawley's  lifetime, 
in  several  editions  under  dates  of  1621,  1624,  1628,  1632,  1638, 
1 65 1 -2,  1660,  1676.  The  edition  of  1676  was  a  reprint  of 
an  earlier  edition  and  was  issued  after  Rawley's  death.  Bur- 
ton died  in  1640. 

195 


One  of  the  passages  which  Mr.  Marston  quotes  in  proof  of 
a  paraphrase  of  Pope's  translation  is  the  expression,  "HilHe 
Eteon,  or  the  waterie  plains  of  Hyrie."  On  referring  to  my 
MS.  of  the  deciphering  from  Democritus  to  the  Reader,  p.  73, 
1.  24,  Anat.  of  Mel.,  I  find  the  phrase  was  extracted  from  the 
words,  which  are  here  set  up  in  two  founts  of  modern  type. 

No  one  should  pass  judgment  upon  the  Bi-literal  Cypher  who 
cannot,  at  sight,  assign  these  letters  to  their  respective  founts, 
for  it  is  much  less  difficult  in  these  diagrams  than  in  the  old 
books  themselves. 

FOUNTS  USED 

jabab  abab  abab  abab  abab  abab 

{AAaa  BBhb  CCcc  DDdd  EEee  FFff 

jabab  abab  ababab  abab  abab  abab 

{GGgg  HHhh  Iliijj  KKkk  LLll  MMmm 

fabab  abab  abab  abab  abab  abab 

{NNnn  0  0  00  PPpp  QQqq  BRrr  SSss 

jabab  ababab  abab  abab  abab  abab 

iTTti  VVvvuu  WWww  XXxx  YYyy  ZZzz 

Passage  to  be  deciphered. 

mtijs  Crimine  Nemo  caret  Nemo  sorte  sua  vivU  contentus  Nemo  in  amove 
sapil,  Nemo  bonus,  Nemo  sapiens,  Nemo,  est  ex  omni  parte  beatus  dc. 
Nicholas  Nemo,  No  body  quid  valeat  Nemo,  Nemo  referre  potest  vir  sapit 
qui  pauca  loquitur 

Grouping  in  fives  as  the  words  stand,  we  have: 
vitij    s  Crim    ineNe    mo  car    etNem    osort    esuav     ivitc 

a  a  i  a  a      b  b  b  a  b       a  a  a  a   b        a  b  a  a  b      ab   a  a   b       a  aa  aa      b  a  a  a  a       b  a  a  b a 
E  ■  K  K  A  R  T 

on  ten    tusNe 

a  b  a  a  a       b  a  a  a  b 
I  S 

The  first  group  forms  the  biliteral  letter  e,  but  the  next  has 
two  *b  fount'  letters  at  the  commencement.  There  is  no  letter 
in  the  biliteral  alphabet  commencing  hh,  but  there  is  a  pos- 
sibility of  a  printer's  error,  and  it  is  necessary  to  examine  the 
following  groups.  Each  forms  a  bi-literal  letter,  but  they  are  a 
jumble  and  cannot  be  set  off,  or  divided  into  words. 

Another  attempt  is  necessary  to  pick  up  the  cipher  thread. 
Omitting  one  letter  at  the  beginning,  the  grouping  is : 
itijs    Crimi    neNevi    ocare     tNemo     sorte    suavi    vitco 

a  b  a  a  b      b  b  a  b  a      a  a   a  b   a        b  a  a  b  a       b   a   a  b  a      a  a  a  a  b      a  a  a  a  b      a  a  h  a  a 
K  C  T  T  B  B  E  . 

71  t  ('  n  t    u  s  N  e  m 

b  a  a  a  b       a  a    a    b  b 
S  D 

196 


Here,  again,  bb  comes  at  the  beginning  of  a  group,  but  going 
on  with  the  remainder  of  the  Hne  the  resulting  letters  are  again 
impossible  to  separate  into  any  intelligible  words. 
Omitting  another  letter  we  have : 

i  ij  s  C     r  i tn  % n    e  Ne m  o    caret    J\' (  i/i  o s    ortes     tt  a  v i  v     i  t  co  n 

b  it  a  b   b        b  a  b  a  a.       a  a    b   a  b       a  a  b  a  b      a  a  b  a  a       a  a  a  b  a      a  a  a  b  a       a  b  a  a  b 
UWFFEOCK 

teniu    sNemo    inaifto    re  sap    itNem 

a  a  a  b  a      aabbabab    b  a      a  a  b  b  a      b  b    a  a  a 
C  Q  Y  Q 

Another  trial  commences  with  the  fourth  letter,  and  the 
groups  are : 
ijsCr    imine    Nemoc    ctretN    enioso    rtesu    avivi    tcont 

a  a  b  b  b      a  b  a  a  a,       a   b  a   b  a      a  b  a  b  a        a  b  a  a  a      a  a  b  a  a       a  cib  a  a      b  a  a  b  a 
HI  L  L  I  E  E  T 

enius    Nemot    nam  or    esapi   iNenio  bonus   Netuos   apt  en 

a  a  b  a.  a      a   b  b  a  b      a  b   i   a  a      a  b  b  a  b     b  a  a  a  a    b  a  a  b  a      a  a  b  b  b     a  a  b  a  a 
EONO  RT  He 

sNemo  est  ex    omnzp    art  eh  eat  us    &cNic    hot  as    NeinoN 

b    a  b  a  a     a  aaa  a      b   a  a  b  a     a  a  b  a  »    b  a  a  a  a      a  b  a  a  a    a  a  b  a  a      a  b    b    b  n 
W  A  T  E  R  I  E  P 

obody    quidv    ateat    NetnoN    emore    ferre    potes     tvirs 

a  b  a  b  a       a  A  a  a  a      a  b  a  a  a       a  b    b    a    a         b    a  a  a  b      a  b   b  a  b      a  a  b  a  b       a  ti  b  b  b 
LAI  N  S  O  F  H 

apitq    uipau    caloq    uitur 

b  a  b  b  a      b  a  a  a  a      aba  a  a      a  a  b  a  a 
Y  B  1  E 

DECIPHERED  PASSAGE 

None  of  these  groups  begins  with  two  b's,  and  the  resulting 
letters  spell  out  the  line  quoted. 

hillieeteonorthewaterieplainsofhyrie 
Hillie  Eteon  or  the  waterie  plains  of  Hyrie. 

The  capitalization  and  punctuation  are  suggested  by  the 
rules  of  literary  construction.  There  are  four  possible  wrong 
groupings,  but  this  illustration  required  only  the  trial  of  three 
to  find  the  correct  one.  Should  there  be  obscure,  or  doubtful, 
letters  in  the  text  that  make  the  resulting  letters  of  a  group 
uncertain,  pass  the  whole  group  by  until  those  are  marked  which 
are  certain.  There  are  always  a  sufficient  number  of  6's  to  indi- 
cate what  the  word  really  is  in  the  groups  preceding  and  follow- 
ing. In  the  resulting  phrase  above,  a  number  of  the  letters  might 
be  passed  over  as  abbreviations  and  yet  the  sense  could  hardly 
be  mistaken  even  in  this  short  and  disconnected  line,  while  with 
the  context  it  would  be  made  perfectly  clear. 

197 


Mr.  Marston  quotes  another  passage  as  evidence  that  I  have 
"copied  Pope" : 

"Hee  was  th'  first  of  th'  Greekes  who  boldlie  sprang  to  th' 
shore  when  Troy  was  reach'd,  and  fell  beneath  a  Phrygian 
lance." 

Referring  to  my  MS.,  I  find  this  comes  from  page  38,  Anat. 
of  Mel.,  commencing  in  line  11.  I  have  had  this  printed,  also, 
and  grouped  for  the  resulting  bi-literal  letters  that  form  the 
deciphered  passage,  and  I  think  it  well  to  use  this  because  it 
illustrates  one  of  the  points  that  should  be  clearlv  understood. 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  p.  38,  1.  11  ;  ildition  1628  ). 

Claudinus  Hippocrates  Paracelsus  Non  est  reluctandum  cum  Deo  Her- 
cules Olympicks,  lupiter  lupiter  Hercules  Nil  iuv(d  iiinnensos  Cratero 
promittere  monies  we  must  submit  ourselues  vnder  t/ic  inkj/itij  hand  of  God 
vna  eademq  manus  vidnus  opemq  feret  Achilles  A  Digression  of  the  nature 
of  Spirits,  bad  Angels  or  Divels,  and  how  they  cause  Melanch-  ly. 
Postellus,  full  of  controversie  and  ambiguity  fateor  excedere  vires  intentiows 
meae  Ajistin /inituin  de  infinito  non  potest  statuere  Acts  Sadducees  Galen 
Peripateticks  Aristotle  Pomponatius  Scaliger  Dandinus  com  in  lib  de 

audin     us  Hi  2)     pocra     tesPa     race  I     susNo    nesfr    eluct 

a  a  b  b  b       a  a    b  a  a       a  a  b  a  a      b  a  b    a  a       a  a  a  a  n      b  a  a  a  b       b  a  a  h  a      a  a  b  b  b 

and  urn    cum.De    oHerc    ulesO    lympi    ckslu    piter    lupil 

a  a  b  a  b        a  b  a    a  a      b    a  a  a  n      b  a  a  a  b       b  a  a    i  a      a  b  b  ti  b       n  a  h  a  b      b  a  u  b  a 

er  Her    cul  es    N  il  iu    v  atiin    men  so    s  C  r  a  t    ero  p  r    o  m  i  1 1 

a  a  b   b  b      a  a  b  b  a        b    a  a  a  a     a  a  b  a  a        a  a  b  a  a      a  b  a  a  b     a  a  b  a  a      b   a  a  a  b 

eremo     nte  s  w    emu  s  t    sub  mi    tojir  s    e  lue  s     vnder    the  in  i 

b  a  b  a  a        a  a  b  b  b         a  b    b  a  b      a  a  a  a    b      a  b  b  a  b      a  b  a  b  a       a  a  a  b  b       a  b  a  o    a 

g  h  lyh    and  of   G  odvn    ae  a  de    mqman    usvul    nusop    e  m  qfe 

a  b  a  a  a      a  a  b  a  a       b  a  a  a  b     a  b  b  b  a      b    a  a   a  a      a  a  a  a  a     a  b  b  a  a      a  a  h  b  a 

ret  Ac     hi  He     sADig     res  si     onoft     hen  at    ureof   Spiri 

b  a  a  b  a       a  b  b  a  b       b   a    a  b  a        a  a  b  b  b        b  a  a  a  b       a  a  b  b  b       a  b  b  a  b        b  a  a  a  a 

tsb  ad    A  ng  el    sor  D  i    ve  I  sa    nd  how    they  c    ause  M     el  an  c 

aa  b  a  a        b   a  b  a  a     aa  b   b    b      a  a  b  a  a      a  b  b  a  a        b  a  a  b  a      b  a  a  a  a  a  b  b  a  b 

holyP     est  el     lusfu,     llofc     ontro     versi     eanda     mbigu 

t  a  b  b  a         b  a  baa       a  a  a  a  a      b  aa  a  b        b  a  a  a  a        a  a  b  a  a       a  a  a  a  a         a  a  a  b   a 

%  t  y  fa      teore     xcede     revir     esin  t     entio     nisme     ae  An  s 

a  a  b  b  b       a  a  a  b  b       a  a  a  a  a      a  b  b  a  a       a  a  a  b  b       a  a  b  a  b       a  a  b  a  a       a  b   a   b  a 

t  i  nf  i     nitum     deinf     in  i  to     nonpo     tests     t  atue     reAct 

a  b  a  b  a        a  a  a  a  b  a  a  b  a  a       a  b  b  a  a       a  a  b  a  a       a  a  a  a  a      b  a  a  b  a       a  a    b    b  h 

sSadd    ucees    Galen    Perip     ateti    cksAr    istot     lePom 

a  a  a  a  a      a  b  b  b  a      a  a  b  b  b       b  a.  a  a  a       b  a  b  b  a    a  b  b   a  a       a  b  a  a  a      a  a  a  a  a 

pon  at    iusSc    a  I  i  g  e    r  Dan  d    inus  c    ominl 

a  b  b  a  a      a  b  a  b  a      a  a  a  a  a      a    b   b  a  a       a  a  a  b  a      a    a  b  a  a 
DECIPHERED  PASSAGE 

Hee  was  th'  first  of  th'   Greekes   who  boldlie  sprang  to  th'  shore 
when  Troy  was  reach'd,  and  fell  beneath  a  Phrygian  lance. 

198 


Ill  the  word  Phrygian,  the  fifth  group  which  should  make 
the  letter  g,  aabba,  really  is  n,  abbaa,  probably  Rawley's  mis- 
take, for  the  printer  should  not  answer  to  every  charge.  The 
two  b's  stand  together,  as  they  should,  but  are  one  point  re- 
moved to  the  left. 

Every  page  of  the  book  was  worked  out  in  the  manner  illus- 
trated, every  Italic  letter  classified  and  the  result  set  down,  nor 
could  any  "imagination  or  predetermination"  change  the  re- 
sult. 

In  this  connection  as  few  of  your  readers  have  opportunity  to 
examine  the  old  books  I  will  reproduce  the  Cicero  Epistle  con- 
taining the  Spartan  dispatch  from  each  of  the  1623  and  1624 
editions  of  De  Augmentis,  showing  the  differences  and  the 
errors  in  the  second  which  like  those  occurring  in  the  text  of 
the  old  books  have  to  be  corrected  if  the  work  goes  on. 


199 


De  Augmentis  Scientiarum.     London  Editwn,  162^. 

Plate  i. 


L 


1  B  E 


R      S  E  X  r  */  5. 


Exempluni  (tAlphahii  ^iliteranj.. 

itJ      <i    .    C ,    €5      €        f. 

g    if£      g     'JL    t   r^^  ^ 

aciDDCL .  aaohb  .  ah  ana   avdoJ)  ahdhj.  -atah!) 

^     0      S      0,    ^    s 

ia^^iiJtidfl-  icScui  •  baSaS.  bahbci  ■  babbf' 

Ncque  Icuc  quiddam  obucc  hoc  modo,  pcrfcdlmn 
eft.  E'cnimcxhoc  ipfopacct  Modus,  quo  ad  omncm 
Loci  Dilbaciam,  per  Obiciia, qux  vd  Vifai  vdAudi  - 
tuifubiicipofTinr,  Scnfa  Animi  profcrrc,  &c  Hgnificarc 
iiccac,  fimodoObicclaiila,  duphcis  tamum  Di/fcrcn- 
cix  capacia  funt ,  vduti  per  Campaiiati,  per  Buccinas, 
per  FlainmcoSjpcr  Sonitus  Tormcntonim,  5:  alia  qu.c- 
cunquc  Vcrumvt  Incoepcum  pcrrcquamur,  cum  ad 
ScnbcnJum  accmgcns,  Epiftolam  Inceriorcm  m  Alphu- 
k'tum  hoc  Btlitaarium  folues.  Su  Epiftola  interior  ; 

Exemplum  Solutionis, 

5"      V.    g.    ^. 

JiafixL      Uaff.    ddbbd.    aafaa 

Prxftb 


2-9 


200 


Plate  ii. 


280 


!Df  Augmemis,  Scientiarum-> 


Prdto  fimul  fit  aliud  Alphahetum  Biforme,  luinirum, 
quod  fingulas  Alphabeti  Communu  Litcras,  tam  Capita- 
Ics.quamminorcs,  duplici  Forma,  prouc  cuiquc  com- 
modum  fit,  exhiHcat. 

Exemplum  Alphabeti  'B'tformii, 
a.    P.  a,  p.  a.  h  .cp.  (L.  v.ai  Oy,  b  .d.D. 

a.   p.a.S.  a.  b ,  A.h.  a.  h,   a.  p.  a-,  ha.h. 
a.   /.  (LP.  a.  p.  a.  i.  a,  t.  a.  b.  <t.  p.  a.  f. 


a.,  p.  c^'P.a^.ba^h.cu.p.iL.p.d.  p.  tL.b.  dL', 
p.  it.b.(L,f.  Orf  a.  p.tuS.a..  f.a,S,<t.f. 
A.    I.  tt.f.  <t.  f.  <t.f.  a..f.<J.A.f.<i/. 


201 


Plate  iii. 

JLlBEK      SeXTVS. 

TanidemumEpiftola;Intcnon,iam  facXx  B/hrcrau, 
Epillolam  ExtcnoTcm  Bi/ormem,  lircradm  accomino- 
dibis,  &  poftca  dcfcnbes.  Sit  Ep.ltola  Exrcnor; 
Manere  te  ijolo  dontc  ijencro. 

Exemplum  ^ccommodatiotm, 

^//  ^u  4/  f 

d  ab  ab.D .  ad  b  pa  a  a  b  a  ad  b  ad. 

miLcuttcn   to    v(n^  dinico  tcTufc 

Appofuimus  ctiam  Excmplurn.aliud  largias  ciufdem 
Ciphrar ,  Scribendi  Omnia  per  Omnui. 

Epiftola  Interior,  ad  quam  delegl- 

xnus  Epiftolam  Spartanam^  mifTam 
ohm  in  Scy  rale. 

I.erditac  J(e/.  Minaanu  cecmtjmnfe/- 
cjununt  Jlemc  nine  nos  txhicarcmji 
nic  diutiuj  mancrc  tossumtLf  . 


ut 


281 


Epiftola  Exttrior,  fumpta  ex  B^ijiola 

Prima Ciceronif, in  c^u^EpifioIa  Spar- 
tana  inuotuicur. 

Oo 


202 


Plate  iv. 


atitcris  ja£ifuioamniPm:jMiit^ij>nJmjv: 
annnp  sdUshioio .  JUwiH'  est  cnim  iTKumi = 
talotuoniWr  tradmt  mtTftoTuin;i>i'm6nU 
tun  fw\  nisijcntcld  rt^dtmc  iKm  omatucsz 
f^;  c^o,  anui  rum  uUtw  nv  iiUL  com^cl  ijjicio^ 
tntAtn  miiU  cssi  a^rftmipLivtt .  Jncaxiz 

^cr  cosdtmcttdihyctf^p^tr  avuys,  wtr^/z^/Wtf^ 

qui  vdmi;  jutpauci  sunt  omms  di^Bm^tz 
viim  rem  (Cs^fcrrpvomTiir.  bcrui^z^t^z 
Qi^TUf  cclumrwim^  tton  nlimmt^  secinubL 

WJiicua  comPrtritLt.  ^c . 


203 


De  Augmentis  Scientiarum.     Paris  Edition,  1624. 

366  De  jdugmentu  Sciemiarum. 

tuitimodfi  Litcras  fojuantur  ,;  per  Tranfpofitioncm 
.carum.  Nam  Tranfpofitio  duarum  Literarum  5  per 
Locprquinquc,  Differentiis.triginta  duabus,  multo 
nragis  viginti  quatuor  (  qui  eft  Numerus  Jlpha-- 
^mapud  nos )  lufiiciet.  Huius  jdlfhaheti  Excmplam 
tale  eft. 

Exemplum  i^lphaheti'Bil'tterArij^ 


Maaaa, .  aaaap.  aaQpaMaabb.aapoa.  aaba^- 

ff    ^     {T    <J(.    <>   ^ 

^£     o     ^    (h    ^    S 

cSpaa.awap  .upph^  MPPPpSaaadJoraap- 

^     V     V)     00    y     ^ 

Saapa.paaPP^poSaa  'POPapJaP^aJaSff 

Neque  Icuc  qiiiddam  obiter  hoc  jnodo  perfedum 
cfliEtcnim  ex  hoc  ipfopatet  Modus ,  quoadoiTineni 
Loci  Difl:antiam,per  Obiedajqus  vcl  Vifui,vc!  Audi- 
tui  fubijci  poflint,Scnfa  Animi  proferre,  &:  fignificarc 
liceat :  fi  modo  Obicda  illa,duplicis  tantum  DifFeren- 
ti^  capacia  flint,  vcluti  per  Campanas  ,  per  Buccinas, 
per  Flammeos,pet  SonitusTormentorum,&  alia  quf- 
cunque.  Verumvtincceptumperfequamur,  cum  ad 
Scribendum  accingoris  >  Epiftolam  intcriorem  in-vy^/- 
^hSemmhoc'Silueramm  folues.  Sit  cpiftolaiiiteriori 


204 


Liber  SextHS\  307 

Exeinplunl  Solutionis. 

Ji^dtJp*  pdCLPP-    CLdLupd*    cldpaa^ 

Pr«ft6  fimul  fit  aliud  Jphahtum  Biforme ,  nimirunv 
quodfingulas  j^lpbabeti  Communis  Litct^s  ^  tarn  Capi- 
taics,quacm  minores^duplici  Forma ,  prout  cuiqj  com- 
modam,fit  cxhibcar, 

Exemplum  jilp^al^ctiBiformiSo 

Jii(Lner%  ie  ^crlo    cLantc  ^oen^rs 

Turn  demiim  Epiftolsc  Interiorij,  iam  faftae  Biliterat§, 
Epiftolam  Exteriorcm  Biforntemy  literatim  accommo- 
dabis,&pofteadefcribes.  Sit  Epiftola  Exterior  j 
Mdnae  te  ijolo  donee  "Venero* 
Exemplum  Accommoddtionis. 

^       .    0      CP       ^      ^     S 

Appofuimus  ctiam  Exempluni  aliud  largius  eiuf^ 
dem  Ciphrx ,  Scr'ihendi  Omnia  per  Omnia. 
Epiftola  Interior  ,  ad  quam  delegimus  Epifiolam 
Spartanam ,  miflam  olimin  Scytalc. 
VerdiU  "Ajs.  Qi^indarm  cecidit  (^:^tlites  eju- 
riunt.  U^<^qut  hincnos  extricarey  neque 
hicdmtiks  mancrefojfumm. 


205 


3o8  De  lyiugmentU  SctemUrum, 

J§a.aM^fS.  (f.ccMlI. 

%.%.c.t.%<Fjj.g.§.^.gM.m/;'. 


a.  P    <l.PM^P.<lP,<i.p.aS.Cl.  p.  c.PM. 


Z  ^^z 


EpiftoIaExtcrior ^  fumpta ex  Epiftola Pnma  Cfccromsy 
^   in  qua EfiftoUSfartana'muolxiizux. 


206 


LihrSext^.  305 

cattm:  satf^c^o amni^iJitmipmmi' 
dultit  SAiisfaao-  "LTcLnfa  tst  enim  m  ajni- 
tudo  iiumm  era<x,  mc  mBn'ivrt(ni,viyumu 
<m  U,  nisipsr/rcUre,  dsmmfffi  amjtiKS=. 


fit 

Vcreosaim  crediivres  pzraucrs,  cumhtacuz 

jui  Pmnf,jtuja,  rc^tmnfomws  aiSrimnt 

ium  rem  (^tti  vpiunt  Senahs  ^It= 

^tontJ"  cJumniajn  non  t£lmmt^  si£na.- 

knokniuL  li'iihus  ZA^'^iat-^BfiotliS^ 

inmdiA comp:(rh,i  Sic* 

Q3  ijj 


207 


In  the  1624  edition  the  second  d  in  oMcio  is  changed  by  the 
lawoftied  letters  ;the  second  n  in  nunqiiam  has  positioner  angle 
of  inclination,  to  make  it  an  'a  fount'  letter ;  q  in  conquiesti  is 
from  the  wrong  fount,  and  the  u  has  features  of  both  founts  but 
is  clear  in  one  distinctive  difference — the  width  at  the  top ;  the 
q  in  quia  is  reversed  by  a  mark;  the  as  in  the  first  carusa  are 
formed  like  'b  fount'  letters  but  are  taller, ;  the  q  of  quos  is  from 
„ae  wrong  fount ;  the  second  a  in  aderas  is  reversed  being  a  tied 
letter ;  /  in  velint  is  from  the  wrong  fount,  also  the  p  of  parati, 
the  /  of  calumniam  and  the  /  of  religione. 

In  line  twelve  'pauci  stint'  in  1623  ed.  is  'parati  sunt'  in  the 
1624  ed.  The  correct  grouping  is  ntqui  velin  tquip  rails  untom 
nesad,  the  first  a  in  'parati'  must  be  omitted  to  read  diutius 
according  to  the  Spartan  dispatch.  Otherwise  the  groups 
would  be  arati  siinto  mnesa.  The  m  and  ;i  are  both  'b  fount,' 
thus  bringing  two  b's  at  the  beginning  of  this  last  group,  indi- 
cating at  once  a  mistake  for  no  letter  in  the  bi-literal  alphabet 
begins  with  two  &'s  and  wherever  encountered  may  be  known  to 
indicate  either  a  wrong  fount  letter  or  a  wrong  grouping.  It  is 
one  of  the  guards  against  error.  To  continue  the  groups  after 
the  one  last  given  several  would  be  found  to  commence  with  bb, 
and  the  resulting  letters  would  not  "read." 

Here,  too,  is  an  example  of  diphthongs,  digraphs,  and  double 
letters,  which  are  troublesome  to  "A  Correspondent."  The 
diphthong  se  of  "cseteris,"  the  digraph  ct  in  perfectare,  and  the 
double  ^'s  and  pp's  are  shown  as  separate  letters  and  must  be 
treated  as  such  in  deciphering  Italics. 

A  very  important  feature,  that  most  seem  to  forget,  is  that 
ciphers  are  made  to  hide  things,  not  to  make  them  plain  or 
easy  to  decipher.  They  are  constructed  to  be  misleading,  mys- 
terious, and  purposely  made  difficult  except  to  those  possessing 
the  key.  Seekers  after  knowledge  through  them  must  not 
abandon  the  hunt,  upon  encountering  the  first  difficulty,  im- 
probability, inaccuracy,  or  stumbling  block  set  for  their  confu- 
sion. 

Were  the  confirmation  of  this  cipher  of  importance  to  the 
government — a  matter  of  life  or  death  to  an  official,  or  likely 
to  concern  the  strategic  movement  of  an  army — the  energies  of 
many  minds  would  be  centered  upon  deciphering  it.     But  it 

208 


would  appear  from  the  writings  we  have  recently  seen,  the 
greatest  effort  is  to  prevent  its  development  or  acceptance — 
that  the  ideas  of  a  lifetime  be  not  overturned,  and  the  satisfac- 
tion remain  that  the  individual  has  already  compassed  the  limits 
of  information.  It  is  so  much  pleasanter  to  be  satisfied 
with  what  we  have  than  to  delve  for  things  we  do  not  want  to 
know. 

Personally,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  vital  importance  to  me 
whether  the  cipher  is  accepted  or  not.  I  have  put  my  best  efforts 
into  its  discovery  and  elucidation.  I  know  that  I  have  accomp- 
lished what  others  have  failed  to  do,  and  I  can  look  on  with 
equanimity  as  the  world  wrestles  with  the  evidences,  and  finally 
comes,  as  it  will,  to  the  conclusion  I  have  reached. 

The  impetus  given  the  movement  by  this  discussion  will 
result  in  important  research,  and  other  discoveries  concerning 
Bacon  that  I  am  unable  to  make,  will,  with  the  light  that  has 
now  been  thrown  upon  the  subject,  confirm  what  has  been  set 
forth  and  much  more  besides.  As  I  write,  an  article  in 
Baconiana  makes  a  suggestion  which  should  be  acted  upon  at 
once: 

"Our  attention  has  also  been  called  to  a  sealed  hag  of  papers 
at  the  Record  office.  It  was,  it  is  said,  sealed  at  the  death  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  to  be  opened  only  by  joint  consent  of  the 
reigning  Sovereign,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  Lord 
Chancellor.  Is  not  the  time  come  when  we  may  fitly  memorial- 
ize His  Majesty,  King  Edward,  to  command  or  sanction  the 
opening  and  revelation  ?" 


209 


> 


REPLY  TO  SIR  HENRY  IRVING. 

THE  PRINCETON  ADDRESS. 

In  an  address  at  Princeton  on  the  Shakespeare-Bacon  con- 
troversy, Sir  Henry  Irving  did  me  the  honor  of  mention, 
although  in  rather  a  disparaging  way,  as  "constructing  a  won- 
derful cipher  out  of  the  higgledy-piggledy  lettering"  of  the 
First  Folio  and  other  Elizabethan  books  in  which  irregular 
lettering  is  found. 

As  comparatively  few  will  recognize  from  the  terms  Sir 
Henry  used,  the  actual  meaning  of  this  characterization  of  the 
peculiar  printing,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  he  refers  to  the  two 
or  more  forms  of  Italic  letters  the  printers  of  that  day  employed 
in  the  same  text  of  many  books,  and  that  I  have  discovered 
that  their  use  in  a  large  number  was  for  the  purpose  of  em- 
bodying the  biliteral  cipher  invented  by  Bacon.  Much  of  this 
work  has  been  deciphered  and  published  as  the  Bi-literal 
Cypher  of  Francis  Bacon,  and  no  doubt  the  recent  discussion 
of  this  book  in  England, — and  the  echoes,  on  this  side,  of  the 
controversy, — was  the  suggestion,  at  least,  of  the  theme  of  the 
Princeton  address. 

Sir  Henry  points  out  that  by  "this  wondrous  cipher  Bacon 
is  alleged  to  have  written  in  addition  to  Shakespeare  and 
Greene,  the  works  of  Ben  Jonson  and  Marlowe,  Spenser's 
Faerie  Queene  and  Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy/'  but 
says  "its  chief  business  is  to  stagger  us  with  the  revelation 
that  Bacon  was  the  'legitimate  son  of  Queen  Elizabeth.'  " 

It  is  not  my  purpose  at  this  time  to  discourse  upon  the  dis- 
coveries I  have  made,  which,  among  a  great  deal  else  equally 
important,  most  certainly  reveal  all  that  Sir  Henry  mentions — 
except  that  Bacon  lays  no  claim  to  the  greater  part  of  Ben 
Jonson's  works — but  I  wish  to  throw  additional  light  upon  cer- 
tain passages  in  the  address  that  are  presented  as  facts  irrec- 
oncilable with  the  cipher  disclosures.  These  "facts"  are  sup- 
posed to  show  that  it  is  not  in  the  realm  of  possibility  that 
Bacon  could  have  written  the  plays. 

210 


In  the  opening  sentences,  Sir  Henry  refers  to  some  words 
of  his  own  used  as  a  fitting  conclusion  to  a  treatise  on  the 
Bacoii-Sliakespeare  Question  by  Judge  Allen  of  Boston.  T 
quote :  "When  the  Baconians  can  show  that  Ben  Jonson  was 
either  a  fool  or  a  knave,  or  that  the  whole  world  of  players  and 
playwrights  at  that  time  was  in  a  conspiracy  to  palm  ofif  on 
the  ages  the  most  astounding  cheat  in  history,  they  will  be 
worthy  of  serious  attention." 

If  Sir  Henry  Irving  to-day  appeared  in  a  new  play, 
and  at  the  same  time  claimed  that  it  was  the  work  of  his  hand, 
it  would  not,  probably,  require  "a  conspiracy  of  the  whole 
world  of  players  and  playwrights  to  palm  it  off"  on  the  present 
age  to  say  nothing  of  the  future. 

The  waiters  who  refer  so  confidently  to  Ben  Jonson' s  praise 

of  Shakespeare,  do  not  observe  that  he  says: 

"he  seemes  to  shake  a  Lance, 

As  brandisht  at  the  eyes  of  Ignorance." 

They  are  blind,  also,  to  the  significance  of  the  lines : 

"From  thence  to  Honour  thee,  I  would  not  seeke 
For  names;  but  call  forth  thund'ring  vEschilus, 

Euripides,  and  Sophocles  to  us, 
Paccuvius,  Accius,  him  of  Cordova  dead, 

To  life  againe,  to  heare  thy  Buskin  tread, 
And  shake  a  Stage:    Or,  when  thy  Sockes  were  on, 

Leave  thee  alone  for  the  comparison 
Of  all,  that  insolent  Greece,  or  haiightie  Rome 

Sent  forth,  or  since  did  from  their  ashes  come. 

The  'buskin'  signified  tragedy,  'socks'  comedy,  and  it  was 
as  an  actor,  not  as  an  author,  that  Jonson  would  compare 
Shakespeare  with  both  ancient  and  modern  Greece  and  Rome. 
His  name  was  in  the  list  of  actors  of  some  of  Jonson's  plays, 
as  well  as  of  "Shakespeare's."  Beeston  says,  "he  did  act  exceed- 
ingly well,"  and  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Sidney  Lee's  Shake- 
speare in  Oral  Tradition  for  a  revival  of  "the  exciting  discov- 
ery some  actors  made"  of  Shakespeare's  brother  Gilbert  whose 
memory  "only  enabled  him  to  recall  his  brother's  performance 
of  Adam  in  his(  ?)  comedy  of  As  you  like  it." 

It  is  true  that  Shakespeare  was  lauded  for  the  literary  work 
supposed  to  be  his,  yet  in  the  article  just  cited  we  observe  also 
that  "Shakespeare's  extraordinary  rapidity  of  composition  was 
an  especially  frequent  topic  of  contemporary  debate."  There 
were  men  even  then  who  realized  that  these  things  were  not 
possible  to  their  Shakespeare. 

211 


In  the  Advancement  of  Learning  we  read ;  "He  is  the 
greater  and  deeper  pollitique,  that  can  make  other  men  the 
Instruments  of  his  will  and  endes,  and  yet  never  acquaint  them 
with  his  purpose:  So  that  they  shall  doe  it,  and  yet  not  know 
what  they  doe,  then  hee  that  imparteth  his  meaning  to  those 
he  employeth."    B.  2.,  ist  p.  33. 

This  would  suggest  that  Bacon  did  not  impart  his  pur- 
poses to  his  "masques."  Ignorant  of  the  fact  that  Shake- 
speare's name  was  being  employed  as  was  his  own,  Greene 
exclaimed,  "An  upstart  crow  beautified  with  our  feathers!" 
The  similarity  of  expression  was  apparent  to  him,  as  to  stu- 
dents of  the  present  day,  and  the  charge  of  plagiarism  was 
very  natural. 

Sir  Henry  points  out  that  although  Bacon  "was  the  legiti- 
mate son  of  Oueen  Elizabeth,  his  unnatural  mother  showed  not 
the  smallest  desire  to  advance  his  interests."  But  what  shall 
be  said  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon's  failure  to  make  provision  for 
Francis  ?  The  cipher  history  makes  that  point  quite  clear.  He 
made  provision  for  his  own  sons,  and  in  a  certain  sense  Eliza- 
beth provided  for  hers,  although  she  did  not  give  them  public 
recognition  nor  show  the  elder  any  marked  favor. 

Sir  Henry  asks:  "What  did  Bacon  know  about  the  stage?" 
What  did  he  not  know  about  the  stage?  A  few  random  quo- 
tations will  best  answer  these  questions : 

"In  the  plays  of  this  philosophical  theatre  you  may  observe 
the  same  thing  which  is  found  in  the  theatre  of  the  poets,  that 
stories  invented  for  the  stage  are  more  compact  and  elegant, 
and  more  as  one  would  wish  them  to  be,  than  true  stories  out 
of  history."    Nov.  Or.,  p.  90. 

"Representative  [poetry]  is  as  a  visible  history,  and  is  an 
image  of  actions  as  if  they  were  present,  as  history  is  of  actions 
in  nature  as  they  are  (that  is)  past."    Adv.  of  L.,  p.  204. 

"In  whose  time  also  began  that  great  alteration  in  the  state 
ecclesiastical,  an  action  which  seldom  cometh  upon  the  stage." 
Adv.  of  L.,  p.  193. 

"As  if  he  were  conscient  to  himself  that  he  had  played  his 
part  zvell  upon  the  stage."    Adv.  of  L.,  p.  362. 

"But  it  is  not  good  to  stay  too  long  in  the  theatre."  Adv. 
of  L.,  p.  206. 


212 


"But  men  must  know,  that  in  this  theatre  of  man's  life  it  is 
reserved  only  for  God  and  the  angels  to  be  lookers  on."  De 
Aug.,  p.  198. 

"As  it  is  used  in  some  Comedies  of  Errors,  wherein  the  mis- 
tress and  the  maid  change  habits.  Adv.  of  L.,  p.  315,  De 
Aug.,  p.  199. 

"What  more  unseemly  than  to  be  always  playing  a  part?" 
Adv.  of  L.,  p.  349- 

"And  then  what  is  more  uncomely  than  to  bring  the  man- 
ners of  the  stage  into  the  business  of  life?"     De  Aug.,  p.  235. 

"Besides  it  is  unseemly  for  judicial  proceedings  to  borrow 
anything  from  the  stage."     De  Aug.,  p.  340. 

"But  the  best  provision  and  material  for  this  treatise  is  to 
be  gained  from  the  wiser  sort  of  historians,  not  only  from  the 
commemorations  which  they  commonly  add  on  recording  the 
deaths  of  illustrious  persons,  but  much  more  from  the  entire 
body  of  history  as  often  as  such  a  person  enters  upon  the  stage; 
for  a  character  so  worked  into  the  narrative  gives  a  better  idea 
of  the  man,  than  any  formal  criticism  and  review  can."  De 
Aug.,  p.  217. 

"This  was  one  of  the  longest  plays  of  that  kind  that  hath 
been  in  memory."     History  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  p.  304. 

"Therefore  now  like  the  end  of  a  play,  a  great  number  came 
upon  the  stage  at  once."  History  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  p.  287. 

"But  from  his  first  appearance  upon  the  stage."  H.  VH., 
p.  291. 

"He  had  contrived  with  himself  a  vast  and  tragical  plot." 
H.  VH.,  p.  302. 

"As  to  the  stage,  love  is  ever  matter  of  comedies  and  now 
and  then  of  tragedies."     Essays,  p.  95. 

The  stage  and  stage  plays  were  constantly  in  Bacon's  mind. 
The  point  is  not  well  taken  that  Bacon  could  not  have  written 
tlie  plays  from  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  stage,  from  lack  of 
the  old  plays  that  were  the  basis  of  some,  from  the  impossibility 
of  altering  the  plays  extant,  or  of  collaborating  with  other 
writers  in  the  historical  dramas.  Bacon  had  access  to  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men,  to  all  varieties  of  literature,  but  the 
proofs  of  collaboration  are  entirely  wanting. 

Again,  Sir  Henry  states:  "His  [Shakespeare's]  knowl- 
edge of  law  was  supposed  to  be  wonderful  by  Lord  Campbell 
hut  does  not  commend  itself  to  Judge  Allen." 


213 


This  is  the  opinion  of  one  man  opposed  to  that  of  another. 
Warner,  in  speaking  of  the  chorus  in  Act  i.,  Sc.  ii.,  H.  V.,  says : 
"It  reads  like  the  result  of  a  lawyer's  struggle  to  embalm  his 
brief  in  blank  verse." 

A  little  further  on  in  Sir  Henry's  speech  we  find  an  allusion 
to  'Shakespeare's  careless  notions  about  law,  geography,  and 
historical  accuracy.' 

When  the  great  German  Schlegel  wrote,  "I  undertake  to 
prove  that  Shakespeare's  anachronisms  are  for  the  most  part 
committed  purposely  and  after  great  consideration,"  the  truism 
was  more  far-reaching  than  he  knew.  The  double  purpose  that 
many  lines  and  often  whole  passages  serve,  was  the  real  cause 
of  the  anachronisms,  and  want  of  historical  accuracy.  In 
Richard  the  Second  the  pathetic  scene  of  the  queen's  interview 
with  the  dethroned  Richard  as  he  is  being  led  to  the  Tower, 
is  "both  historically  inaccurate  and  psychologically  impossible. 
The  king  and  queen  did  not  meet  again  at  all  after  their  parting 
when  Richard  set  out  for  Ireland,  and  Queen  Isabel  was  a 
child." — Warner's  Hist.  Nearly  the  entire  scene  is  a  part  of 
the  hidden  cipher  drama.  The  White  Rose  of  Britain,  and  is  the 
parting  of  the  pretended  Richard,  Duke  of  York,— Warbeck, 
named  by  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  the  White  Rose, — from  his 
faithful   wife,   Katharine,   to   whom   the   title   was   afterward 

given. 

"Qu.     This  way  the  King  will  come :  this  is  the  way 

To  Julius  Caesar's  ill-erected  Tower: 

To  whose  flint  bosome,  my  condemned  Lord 

Is  doom'd  a  Prisoner,  by  prowd 

Here  let  us  rest,  if  this  rebellious  earth 
-    Have  any  resting  for  her  true  King's  Queene. 

ENTER    RICHARD    AND    GUARD. 

But  soft,  but  see,  or  rather  do  not  see 
My  fair  Rose  wither:    yet  look  up;  behold. 
That  you  in  pittie  may  dissolve  to  dew, 
And  wash  him  fresh  again  in  true-love  Teares. 
Ah  thou,  the  Model!  where  old  Troy  did  stand, 
Thou  Mappe  of  Honor,  thou  King  Richard's  Tombe, 
And  not  King  Richard :  thou  most  beauteous  Inne, 
Why  should  hard-favor'd  Griefe  be  lodged  in  thee, 
When  Triumph  is  become  an  ale-house  guest? 

Rich.    Joyne  not  with  griefe  faire  Woman,  do  not  so, 
To  make  my  end  too  sudden :  learne  good  Soule, 
To  thinke  our  former  State  a  happie  Dreame, 
From  which  awak'd,  the  truth  of  what  we  are, 
Shewes  us  but  this.    I  am  sworne  Brother  (Sweet) 
To  grim   Necessitie ;  and  hee  and   I 

Will  keepe  a  League  till  Death,"  etc.— i?.  //.,  Act.  v.,  Sc.  i. 
214 


Again  in  Henry  the  Sixth,  see  all  the  conversation  regard- 
ing the  marriage  of  Edward  the  Fourth :  A  note  on  the 
play  sa3's  "nothing  is  historically  certain  concerning  the  episode 
except  that  Edward  married  the  Lady  Elizabeth  Grey."  It  is  a 
part  of  another  cipher  drama,  the  Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn, 
where  some  were  bold  enough  to  challenge  the  right  of  the  mar- 
riage of  Henry  the  Eighth  with  the  beautiful  Anne  Boleyn : 

"Lady.     My  lords,  before  it  pleas'd  his  Majestie 
To  rayse  my  State  to  Title  of  a  Queene, 
Doe  me  but  right,  and  you  must  all  confesse, 
That  I  was  not  ignoble  of  Descent, 
And  meaner  than  mysclfe  have  had  like  fortune. 
But  as  this  Title  honors  me  and  mine, 
So  your  dislikes,  to  whom  I  would  be  pleasing, 
Doth  cloud  my  joyes  with  danger,  and  with  sorrow. 

King.    My  Love,  forbeare  to  fawne  upon  their  frownes : 
What  danger,  or  what  sorrow  can  befall  thee, 

So  long  as is  thy  constant  friend, 

And  their  true  Soveraigne,  whom  they  must  obey? 
Nay,  whom  they  shall  obey,  and  love  thee  too, 
Unlesse  they  seeke  for  hatred  at  my  hands : 
Which  if  they  doe,  yet  will  I  keep  thee  safe, 
And  they  shall  feele  the  vengeance  of  my  wrath.'' 

H.  VI.,  Act  iv.,  Sc.  i. 

Critics  trace  the  marked  anti-papal  spirit  of  King  John  to 

'Henry  the  Eighth's  revolt  from  the  Roman  obedience,'  and 

these  passages  are  indeed   a  part  of  Henry's  speech,   in  the 

Tragedy  of  Anne  Boleyn: 

"What   earthie   name   to    Interrogatories 

Can  tast  the  free  breath  of  a  sacred  King? 
But  as  we,  under  heaven  are  supreame  head, 
So  under  him  that  great  supremacy 
Where  we  doe  reigne,  we  will  alone  uphold 
Without  th'  assistance  of  a  mortal!  hand : 
For  he  that  holds  his  Kingdome,  holds  the  law." 

And  again : 

"Yet  I  alone,  alone  doe  me  oppose 

Against  the  Pope,  and  count  his  friends  my  foes." 

K.  J.,  Act  iii.,  Sc.  i. 

The   following  lines  are  a   ])art   of  tlie  cipher  poem,   the 

Spanish  Armada: 

"So  by  a  roaring  Tempest  on  the  flood, 

A   whole  Armado  of  convicted   saile 

Is  scattered  and  dis-joyn'd  from  fellowship." 

K.  J..  Act  iii.,   Sc.   iii. 

A  part  of  Cranmer's  prophetic  speech  at  Elizabeth's  chris- 
tening has  reference  to  Erancis  himself: 


"So  shall  she  leave  her  Blessednesse  to  One 

(When  Heaven  shall  call  her  from  this  clowd  of  darknes) 

Who,  from  the  sacred  Ashes  of  her  Honour 

Shall  Star-like  rise,  as  great  in  fame  as  she  was, 

And  so  stand  fix'd."— H.  VIII.,  Act  v.,  Sc.  iv. 

The  mention  of  quoting  Marlowe  sometimes  with  acknowl- 
edgment— sometimes  omitting  the  acknowledgment — shows 
that  Sir  Henry  does  not  concede  that  the  plays  of  Marlowe 
were  from  the  same  pen  as  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  but  he 
admits  that  'Marlowe  was  Shakespeare's  model  in  several 
ways,'  and  in  making  this  admission  he  reveals  a  recognition  of 
similarity  that  he  can  in  no  way  account  for  until  he  accepts  the 
very  natural  'cause  of  this  effect'  made  known  in  the  cipher. 

Next  w-e  find :  "Shakespeare  had  an  immeasurable  recep- 
tivity of  all  that  concerned  human  character." 

This  is,  of  course,  an  inference  drawn  from  the  plays.  It  is 
well  known  to  all  close  students  of  that  marvelous  literature 
that  its  author  discerned  every  type  of  human  character,  un- 
derstood the  influence  of  environment  upon  men  and  women, 
and  had  a  wide  and  deep  knowledge  of  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
in  different  ages  and  in  many  countries.  We  do  not  differ  in 
opinion  there,  but  Sir  Henry  speaks  of  the  author  by  his 
pseudonym,  I  by  the  name  his  foster  father  gave  him. 

Tennyson  is  quoted  to  show  Bacon's  opinion  of  love :  "The 
philosopher  who  in  his  essay  on  'Love'  described  it  as  a  'weak 
passion'  fit  only  for  stage  comedies,  and  deplored  and  despised 
its  influence  over  the  world's  noted  men,  could  never  have  writ- 
ten 'Romeo  and  Juliet'." 

In  the  Advancement  of  Learning,  Bacon  says :  "Love 
teacheth  a  man  to  carry  himself to  prize  and  govern  him- 
self  onely  Love  doth  exalt  the  mind  and  neverthelesse  at 

the  same  instant  doth  settle  and  compose  it."  The  play  of 
Romeo  and  Jidiet  was  the  story  of  the  love  of  Bacon's  youth 
and  early  manhood,  and  the  score  of  years  between  the  time 
of  writing  the  play  and  publishing  the  essay  had  filled  his  life 
with  other  things,  yet  those  who  have  read  the  cipher  story 
know  that  an  inner  chamber  of  his  heart  enshrined  a  memory 
of  Marguerite. 

I  quote  again  from  the  address :  "Still  more  noteworthy  is 
the  absence  of  any  plausible  excuse  for  Bacon's  fond  preserva- 
tion of  hi?  worthless  rhymes  and  his  neglect  of  the  master- 
pieces that  went  by  Shakespeare's  name.  He  gave  the  most 
minute  directions  for  the  publication  of  his  literary  remains. 

216 


His  secretary,  Dr.  Rawley,  was  entrusted  with  this  responsi- 
bility and  faithfully  discharged  it." 

Bacon's  MSS.  were  given  to  two  literary  executors,  not  to 
Rawley  alone,  and  a  part  was  taken  to  Holland.  Rawley  con- 
tinued the  publication  of  Bacon's  works  after  1626,  publishing- 
all  those  that  were  left  in  his  care.  Without  these,  a  large 
number  of  the  interior  works  would  have  been  incomplete  and 
the  work  in  the  word-cipher  interrupted. 

Sir  Henry's  assertion,  "nothing  could  be  easier  than  to 
make  an  equally  impressive  cipher  which  would  show  that  Dar- 
win wrote  Tennyson,"  etc.,  needs  no  refutation.  Bacon  does 
not  say  that  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  "make"  the  biliteral 
cipher. 

Again  we  find :  "It  would  be  more  to  the  purpose  if  the 
Baconians  would  tell  us  why  on  earth  Bacon  could  not  let  the 
world  know  in  his  lifetime  that  he  had  written  Shakespeare." 

The  principal  reason  was  because  the  history  of  his  life 
was  largely  given  in  those  plays,  not  alone  in  the  biliteral,  but 
in  the  word-cipher,  and  the  revelation  of  that  in  the  lifetime 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  would  have  cost  his  own  life.  He  hoped 
against  hope  to  the  very  day  of  the  queen's  death,  that  she 
would  relent  and  proclaim  him  heir  to  the  throne.  But  he 
states  that  the  witnesses  were  then  dead,  and  the  papers  that 
would  authenticate  his  claims  destroyed.  What  could  he  do? 
Simply  what  he  did. 

In  the  peroration  we  find :  "I  fear  that  the  desire  to  drag 
down  Shakespeare  from  his  pedestal,  and  to  treat  the  testimony 
of  his  personal  friends  as  that  of  lying  rogues  is  due  to  that 
antipathy  to  the  actor's  calling  which  has  its  eccentric  mani- 
festations even  to  this  day." 

This  cannot  in  any  way  refer  to  my  book,  for  the  very 
nature  of  this  work  eliminates  personal  thoughts  and  wishes  or 
preconceived  ideas.  It  is  as  mechanical  as  the  reading  of  hiero- 
glyphics, as  naming  perfectly  well-known  objects,  as  discrimin- 
ating the  clicks  of  the  telegraph.  And  as  far  as  Bacon  was 
concerned  he  desired  only  his  right. 

It  is  by  its  great  men  in  every  age  of  the  world  that  the 
actor's  calling  is  dignified,  but  the  genius  of  the  man  of  the 
stage  is  not  necessarily  the  genius  of  the  man  who  wrote  the 
greatest  plays  that  time  through  all  the  centuries  has  produced. 

EuzABEiTH  Wells  Gallup. 

217 


THE  BI-LITERAL  CIPHER  IN  HENRY  VII. 

Baconiana,  London,  July  1905. 

It  lias  been  suggested  to  me  that  I  should  give  some  of  the 
results  of  my  examination  of  Mrs.  Wells  Gallup's  work  on 
Bacon's  Henry  VII.  I  was  not  in  England  when  Mrs.  Gallup's 
MSS.  arrived  from  America,  in  the  early  part  of  1904.  On 
my  return  to  London  in  June  of  that  year,  I  heard  that  two 
or  three  members  of  our  Society  had  been  trying  to  work  th.e 
cipher,  but  on  comparing  notes  found  that  the  various  copies 
of  the  1622  edition  did  not  agree  in  some  of  the  forms  of  *"hc 
Italic  letters.  Only  one  member  seemed  inclined  to  devote  the 
time  and  patience  to  investigate  the  matter  at  all  thoroughly. 
That  member,  I  understand,  with  much  patience  devoted  one 
wJiole  week  to  the  study  of  the  italic  letters.  His  very  able  re- 
port against  the  cipher  made  me  wish  to  look  into  the  matter 
still  more  thoroughly  myself.  This  may  appear  presumptuolI^ 
as  I  was  not  one  of  the  committee  appointed  to  enquire  into  the 
subject.  But  I  had  had  the  advantage  of  many  conversations 
with  Mrs.  Gallup,  when  she  first  presented  her  work  to  the 
public  five  years  ago,  and  saw  her  and  her  sister.  Miss  Wells, 
at  work  on  a  book  they  found  in  my  house  not  before  decipher- 
ed by  them.  I  was  busy  with  other  literary  work  during  the 
summer  of  1904,  but  in  the  autumn  made  up  my  mind  to  send 
my  own  copy  of  the  1622  edition  of  Henry  VII.  to  the  Howard 
Publishing  Company,  in  America,  for  examination.  I  was  anx- 
ious to  know  if  it  was  a  safe  copy  on  which  I  might  commence 
my  work.  It  was  returned  to  me  by  Mr.  Moore  in  January, 
1905,  with  one  or  two  pencilled  corrections  written  by  Mrs. 
Gallup  in  the  margin.  Mrs.  Gallup,  in  her  letter  to  me,  said. 
''Your  copy  and  ours  are  the  same,  except  in, a  very  few  places." 
In  that  letter,  and  in  others  since,  she  answered  several  of  my 
questions,  and  they  have  materially  helped  me.  I  worked  dili- 
gently for  three  months,  often  eight  and  ten  hours  a  day. 

My  studies  have  been  confined  to  the  first  fifty  pages  only 
of  the  medium  Italic  type.     I  find  in  these  fifty  pages  10,058, 

218 


Italic  letters.  Of  these,  1,319  are  capitals.  For  the  present  I 
shall  confine  my  remarks  to  the  capitals  only.  In  these  fifty 
pages  only  twenty-two  letters  of  the  alphabet  are  used.  I  have 
completed  my  studies  on  thirteen  of  these  letters.  They  re- 
present 704  letters  used  for  the  two  founts ;  and  with  very  few 
exceptions  I  find  them  correctly  so  used  in  Mrs.  Gallup's  MSS. 
sent  to  us  for  examination.  I  have  not  yet  completed  my  studies 
on  the  remaining  nine  letters  of  the  alphabet,  representing  615 
letters.  I  am,  however,  finding  the  majority  of  these  correctly 
used  also.  I  am  a  slow  worker,  but  each  day's  work  is  bringing 
out  better  results  on  these  nine  more  difiicult  letters.  I  give 
below  a  table  of  all  the  letters  in  the  order  in  which  I  found 
them  easiest  to  read,  with  the  columns  of  figures  divided  into 
^'a's"  and  "b's. 


Totals. 

"a" 

"b" 

A. 

■   61 

25 

36 

E. 

78 

58 

20 

I.  J.   .. 

51 

49 

2 

M. 

49 

41 

8 

N. 

42 

32 

10 

U.V.   . . 

11 

9 

2 

Q. 

13 

2 

11 

P. 

163 

119 

44 

R. 

41 

8 

33 

S. 

93 

62 

31 

w. 

19 

11 

8 

T. 

70 

39 

31 

Y. 

13 

7 

6 

K. 

71 

37 

34 

L. 

68 

46 

22 

F. 

78 

47 

31 

B. 

99 

65 

34 

D. 

74 

47 

27 

H. 

24 

12 

12 

0. 

24 

17 

7 

G. 

25 

18 

7 

C. 

152 

100 

52 

1,319 


851 


468 


219 


It  was  suggested  to  me,  by  a  member  who  disliked  the  facts  re- 
vealed in  the  cipher  story,  that  even  if  I  found  the  1,319  capi- 
tals correctly  used,  that  would  not  be  sufficient  to  prove  the 
existence  of  the  cipher,  unless  I  could  also  find  that  the  small 
letters  were  correctly  used  by  Mrs,  Gallup.  This  made  me  leave 
the  capitals  for  a  time.  I  have  since  studied  all  the  small  let- 
ters of  the  medium  italic  type  in  those  first  fifty  pages.  But 
as  they  represent  8,739  letters,  for  the  present  I  can  only  say 
I  have  finished  my  studies  on  three  of  the  letters,  namely,  "k," 
"p,"  "w,"  and  with  only  one  or  two  exceptions  I  find  them  cor- 
rectly used. 

If  my  figures  are  correct,  and  I  am  prepared  for  the 
severest  examination  on  these  facts,  can  it  be  chance  that  those 
letters  are  correctly  used  in  Mrs.  Gallup's  MSS.  ? 

I  would  like  to  say  here,  that  were  it  actually  the  case 
that  only  two  forms  of  letters  are  used,  the  deciphering  of  over 
10,000  letters  would  have  been  a  comparatively  easy  work.  But 
in  some  of  the  letters  there  are  many  variations,  and  these  again 
must  be  paired.  And  yet  in  all  these  pairings  there  is  system 
and  order,  and  a  method  in  all  the  seeming  madness. 

My  work  would  have  progressed  much  more  rapidly  had 
two  or  three  others  worked  with  me.  For  those  who  have  the 
leisure  and  much  patience  I  can  recommend  this  interesting 
study.  I  am  willing  and  in  a  position  to  give  them  many  short 
cuts,  and  they,  in  their  turn,  could,  I  have  no  doubt,  help  to 
finish  the  work  I  have  commenced,  that  is,  simply  to  verify  the 
working  of  Mrs.  Gallup's  MSS.  on  this  Henry  VII.  Those 
Baconians  who  have  never  very  seriously  tried  to  work  at  the 
cipher,  and  are  more  concerned  in  refusing  to  accept  the  rather 
unpleasant  historical  facts  revealed,  I  would  ask  to  suspend 
their  judgment,  and  to  allow  others,  who  may  be  honestly  and 
seriously  trying  to  arrive  at  the  truth,  still  to  be  allowed  to  ex- 
amine the  work  submitted  by  Mrs.  Gallup  at  the  request  of 
some  of  the  members  of  our  Society.  The  more  I,  as  an 
amateur,  study  this  technical  part  of  our  work,  the  more 
convinced  I  feel  that  Bacon  did  use  his  famous  bi-literal  cipher 
in  his  own  prose  history  of  Henry  VII.  A  new  discovery  has 
been  placed  before  us,  and  by  experts ;  why  should  we  discredit 
their  labours,  and  refuse  to  give  an  equal  amount  of  time  and 
patience  in  examining  their  work  ? 

220 


I  would  like  here  to  bring  forward  some  curious  facts 
connected  with  the  printing  of  the  1622  edition  of  Henry  VIL 
I  have  before  me  six  copies — one  belonging  to  Mrs.  Pott,  an- 
other to  Mrs.  Payne,  and  four  of  my  own.  Mrs.  Payne's  copy 
is  similar  to  the  copy  collated  for  me  by  Mrs.  Gallup.  Mrs. 
Pott's  copy  has  many  differences  in  it — not  in  the  words  and 
matter,  but  in  the  use  of  the  two  founts  of  the  Italic  type.  Two 
of  my  own  copies  are  similar  to  Mrs.  Pott's  copy.  My  fourth 
copy,  again,  is  quite  different  to  all  the  others.  Why  should 
there  be  these  differences  in  the  various  copies  of  the  same  edi- 
tion ?  Why  should  type  once  set  up  have  been  altered  ?  And, 
when  altered,  why  should  these  changes  be  carried  through  with 
system  and  order  in  other  copies  ?  Before  closing  this  paper, 
I  would  like  to  remind  Baconians  that  Bacon,  in  writing  to 
Tobie  Mathew  in  1609,  uses  these  words:  "I  have  sent  you  some 
copies  of  my  book  of  the  Advancement  which  you  desired;  and 
a  little  work  of  my  recreation  which  you  desired  not.  My  In- 
stauration  I  reserve  for  our  conference ;  it  sleeps  not.  Those 
works  of  the  alphabet  are  in  my  opinion  of  less  use  to  you  now 
than  at  Paris.  .  .  .  But  in  regard  that  some  friends  of  yours 
have  still  insisted  here,  I  send  them  to  you,  and  for  my  part 
I  value  your  own  reading  more  than  your  publishing  them  to 
others"  (Spedding,  vol,  iv.,  p.  134).  Spedding,  in  criticising 
this  letter,  says,  "What  these  'Works  of  the  Alphabet'  may  have 
been  I  cannot  guess,  unless  they  related  to  Bacon's  cipher." 
Spedding  then  proceeds  again  to  explain  tliis  cipher. 

Archbishop  Tenison  in  1679  was  evidently  aware  that 
Bacon  had  used  his  Bi-literal  Cipher  in  the  1623  folio  of  the 
'^De  Augmentis"  for  he  especially  recommends  that  "accurate" 
edition  to  those  who  wish  to  understand  the  Lord  Bacon's 
Cipher  (Baconiana,  1679,  p.  28).  I  myself  have  very  little 
doubt  but  that  Tenison  used  the  same  cipher  all  through  his 
Baconiana.  '  I  only  wish  I  were  an  expert,  and  could  decipliev 
what  he  says. 

D.    T.    KiNDERSLEY. 


221 


HENRY  VII. 

A  Reply  to  the  Repoet  of  Mr.  Bompas. 
Baconiana,  London^  Oct.  1905. 

I  am  grateful  for  the  opportunity  to  reply  to  the  article 
of  the  late  Mr.  Bompas  in  the  July  number  of  Bacon^iana. 

I  am  also  grateful  to  Mr.  Cunningham  for  his  prefatory 
remarks  and  footnotes,  and  I  wish  to  say  that  his  regret  is 
my  own  as  well,  that  Mr.  Bompas  did  not  discuss  the  paper 
with  members  of  the  Society  better  advised  than  was  he,  and 
that  the  MS.  of  the  article  had  not  been  submitted  to  me 
while  Mr.  Bompas  was  still  with  us,  or  at  least  before  publi- 
cation, for  some,  if  not  all,  the  erroneous  conclusions  drawn 
could  have  been  dissipated  before  they  took  form.  The  expla- 
nations would  have  given  that  gentleman  and  his  readers  a 
more  comprehensive  view,  a  different  view  point,  and  greater 
light  upon  the  subject. 

It  is  rare  that  an  article  appearing  in  public  print  carries 
upon  analysis  its  own  evidences  of  error,  and  in  the  next 
preceding  pages  finds  so  complete  a  refutation  as  does  this  in 
the  article  of  Mrs.  Kindersley. 

In  his  opening  statement  Mr.  Bompas  says:  "The  copies 
of  Henry  VII.  which  have  been  examined  do  not  exactly  cor- 
respond. .  .  .  The  form  of  many  of  the  capitals  also  differs 
in  the  different  copies.  .  .  .  Mr.  Cuningham's  copy  differs 
widely  from  the  others.  .  .  .  Either  each  copy  contains  a 
different  cipher  story,  which  is  absurd,  or  the  decipherer  hap- 
pened by  chance  to  light  on  the  only  correct  copy,  which  is 
equally  absurd."  Then  Mr.  Bompas  proceeds  to  build  an 
argument  upon  the  fact  that  the  copy  of  my  MS.,  furnished 
to  the  Society,  did  not  correspond  with  some  copy  of 
Henry  VII.  with  which  he  compared  it,  concluding,  there- 
fore, that  the  cipher  system  must  be  a  myth,  and  Mrs.  Gallup 
a  visionary  or  a  fraud. 

222 


Any  comparison  to  establish  the  correctness  of  my  work 
must  be  made  either  with  the  copy  I  used  or  one  identical  with 
it.  That  Mr.  Bompas  used  some  copy  not  identical,  but  one 
printed  differently,  is  substantiated  by  Mrs.  Kindersley, 
whose  three  months'  work  on  an  identical  copy — as  against 
one  week  Mr.  Bompas  spent  on  a  different  printing — resulted 
in  her  verification  of  nearly  all  the  letters  studied.  It  is  still 
more  forcibly  proved  by  the  table  of  headings  Mr.  Bompas 
jirints,  the  Italics  in  which  do  not  at  all  correspond  in  the 
different  forms  with  the  book  I  used.  It  therefore  follows  that 
the  entire  argument,  from  pages  169  to  and  including  part 
of  176,  so  far  as  relates  to  Henry  VII.,  is  founded  upon  a 
false  premise  and  falls  to  the  ground. 

Mr.  Bompas  says,  '^'Either  each  copy  contains  a  different 
cipher,  which  is  absurd,"  &c. 

On  the  contrary,  that  is  just  what  occurs  in  unlike  copies. 
Those  widely  differing  belong  to  different  editions,  although 
published  in  the  same  year,  as  I  have  found  to  be  true,  and 
stated  in  my  article  in  Bacojn'iaa'a  published  in  1901.  Two 
issues  of  the  Treatise  of  Melancholy  appeared  in  1586  with 
differing  Italic  printing.  I  have  deciphered  both.  One  ends 
with  an  incomplete  cipher  word,  which  is  completed  in  the 
other  where  the  narrative  is  continued,  and  the  book  ends 
with  the  signature  of  Bacon  on  the  last  page.  I  have  also 
found  that  in  two  editions  of  Bacon's  acknowledged  works  one 
had  the  cipher  and  one  had  not.  The  peculiar  Italicizing  and 
the  same  forms  of  letters  were  in  both.  In  one  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  letters  followed  the  cipher  system,  in  the  other  no 
amount  of  study  could  make  them  "read."  Bacon  refers  in 
the  cipher  to  some  false  and  surreptitious  copies  issued  with- 
out his  authority. 

The  differences  in  print  of  Henry  VII.  first  came  to 
light,  apparently,  through  the  comparisons  made  with  my 
MS.  in  Louflon,  and  the  report  of  it  was  a  great  surprise  to 
me.  Mrs.  Kindersley  was  kind  cnougli  to  send  me  one  of  her 
copies,  and,  as  before  stated,  this  was  found  to  be  identical 
with  the  one  I  used  except  that  three  or  four  typographical 
errors  in  her  copy  were  corrected  in  mine,  and  one  in  mine  did 
not  occur  in  hers,  but  in  no  case  was  a  verbal  change  made  and 
only  one  orthographical. 

223 


About  the  same  time  it  chanced  that  a  copy  of  the  work 
■ — a  recent  importation  from  London — was  sent  me  from 
Chicago  for  examination.  This  I  found  quite  different  in 
the  use  of  Italics.  I  did  not  decipher  the  work,  but  became 
convinced  that  it  either  contained  another  cipher  story,  or 
was  one  of  the  "false  and  surreptitious  copies"  before  re- 
ferred to. 

In  addition  to  the  criticism  of  Henry  VII.,  Mr.  Bompas 
refers  to  some  typographical  errors  making  slight  differencefj 
in  our  own  editions  of  the  Bi-liferal  Cipher,  and  to  the  exam- 
ples in  the  editions  of  De  Augmentis  of  1623  and  1624. 

I  have  to  admit  there  are  some  printers'  errors  in  my 
book  that  escaped  the  closest  proof  reading,  much  to  my  regret. 
The  proof  reading  was  extremely  difficult  because  of  the  care 
required  to  keep  the  unusual  spelling  and  occasional  abbrevia- 
tions. Some  errors  were  corrected  in  the  third  edition.  Mr. 
Bompas  found  two  or  three — probably  not  all.  I  have  had 
no  opportunity  to  note  the  errata  in  a  later  publication.  I 
can,  however,  make  the  broad  assertion  that  in  no  single  in- 
stance has  any  of  these  slight  technical  errors  changed  the 
meaning  of  a  phrase,  or  made  it  obscure,  or  been  of  sufficient 
importance  to  affect  in  the  least  the  overwhelming  evidences 
of  the  existence  of  the  system  of  the  cipher  and  the  correctness 
of  its  deciphering. 

Manifest  errors  occurred  in  the  text  of  the  old  books, 
which  were  corrected  in  the  deciphering,  but  they  were  so  few 
and  so  evident  as  to  prove  rather  than  to  disprove  the  system. 
They  occur  mostly  in  long  groups,  as  in  the  example  of  the 
cipher  in  De  Augmentis,  occasionally  a  short  group  of  four 
letters,  once  in  a  while  a  wrong  font  letter,  but  the  meaning 
of  the  context  was  always  sufficiently  clear  in  itself  to  correct 
the  error.  I  cannot  better  illustrate  this  than  by  quoting  from 
my  "Replies  to  Criticisms,"  issued  in  pamphlet  form,  but 
which  has  not  appeared  in  public  print.  The  explanation 
covers  explicitly  a  number  of  points  raised  by  Mr.  Bompas, 
and  being  an  analysis  of  Bacon's  own  illustration  of  the  cipher 
in  the  1624  De  Augmentis,  has  the  weight  of  the  author's  own 
methods  of  correction,  and  the  suggestion,  at  least,  that  the 
errors  were  purposely  made  to  educate  the  decipherer  as  to 


224 


what  would  be  encountered  in  the  books;  also  the  manner  of 
overcoming  the  difficulties  as  they  should  arise. 

"In  the  1624  edition  the  second  i  in  officio  is  changed 
by  the  law  of  tied  letters;  the  second  u  in  nunquam  has  posi- 
tion or  angle  of  inclination,  to  make  it  an  'a  fount'  letter; 
q  in  conquiesti  is  from  the  wrong  fount,  and  the  u  has  features 
of  both  founts  but  is  clear  in  one  distinctive  difference — the 
width  at  the  top ;  the  q  in  quia  is  reversed  by  a  mark ;  the  a's 
in  the  first  causa  are  formed  like  'b  fount'  letters  but  are 
taller;  the  q  of  quos  is  from  the  wrong  fount;  the  second  a 
in  aderas  is  reversed,  being  a  tied  letter;  I  in  velint  is  from 
the  wrong  fount,  also  the  p  of  parati,  the  I  of  calumniam  and 
the  I  of  religione. 

"In  line  twelve  'pauci  sunt'  in  1623  ed.  is  'parati  sunt' 
in  the  1624  ed.  The  correct  grouping  is  ntqui  velin  tquip 
ratis  untom,  nesad,  the  first  a  in  'parati'  must  be  omitted  to  read 
diutius  according  to  the  Spartan  dispatch.  Otherwise  the 
groups  would  be  a7nti  sunto  mnesa.  The  m  and  n  are  both 
'b  foimt,'  thus  bringing  two  ?/s  at  the  beginning  of  this  last 
group,  indicating  at  once  a  mistake,  for  no  letter  in  the  bi-lit- 
eral  alphabet  begins  with  two  &'s  and  wherever  encountered 
may  be  known  to  indicate  either  a  wrong  fount  letter  or  a 
wrong  grouping.  It  is  one  of  the  guards  against  error.  To 
continue  the  groups  after  the  one  last  given  several  would  be 
found  to  commence  with  bb,  and  the  resulting  letters  would 
not  'read.' 

"Here,  too,  is  an  example  of  diphthongs,  digraphs,  and 
double  letters,  which  are  troublesome  to  'A  Correspondent.' 
The  diphthong  sc  of  'cseteris,'  the  digraph  ct  in  perfectare, 
and  the  double  ^'s  and  pp's,  are  shown  as  separate  letters  and 
must  be  treated  as  such  in  deciphering  Italics. 

"A  very  important  feature,  that  most  seem  to  forget,  is 
that  ciphers  are  made  to  hide  things,  not  to  make  them  plain 
or  easy  to  decipher.  They  are  constructed  to  be  misleading, 
mysterious,  and  purposely  made  difficult  except  to  those  pos- 
sessing the  key.  Seekers  after  knowledge  through  them  must 
not  abandon  the  hunt  upon  encountering  the  first  difficulty, 
improbability,  inaccuracy,  or  stumbling  block  set  for  their 
confusion." 

225 


The  article  says :  "The  plain  inference  is  that  the  Cipher 
and  Cipher  story  are  imaginary." 

Well,  this  is  at  least  complimentary,  but  I  doubt  whether 
Mr.  Bompas  stopped  to  think  what  that  statement  would  mean 
with  all  that  it  implies.  I  do  not  think  he  would,  on  reflec- 
tion, give  me  credit  for  a  genius  so  broad,  for  it  would  be  equal 
to  the  production  of  the  plays  themselves. 

Were  I  the  possessor  of  an  imagination  so  boundless,  I 
would  certainly  not  have  spent  it  upon  a  production  fore- 
doomed to  be  unpopular,  or  have  subjected  myself  to  the  strain 
upon  nerves  and  eyesight  of  six  years'  hard  study  of  old  books 
and  their  typographical  peculiarities  for  a  Baconian  cloak  to 
hide  the  brilliancy  of  that  imagination.  Yet  if  the  material 
for  the  three  hundred  and  ninety  pages  of  my  book  were  not 
found  in  Cipher  in  the  old  originals,  then  it  must  be  the  con- 
ception of  my  own  brain.  First,  the  plot  of  each  story  worked 
out;  the  account  of  Bacon's  discovery  of  his  parentage;  the 
variations  from  historic  records;  the  death  of  Amy  Eobsart; 
the  tragedy  of  Essex,  and  that  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and 
other  scraps  of  added  history;  the  love  of  Bacon  for  Margaret, 
and  all  the  rest.  All  this  thought  out,  in  diction,  much  of  it, 
of  the  highest  order,  in  the  old  English  spelling  and  phrase- 
ology of  the  16th  century  and  fitted  with  such  nice  exactness 
to  the  Italic  letters  of  the  old  books,  "separated  into  groups 
of  five" — letters  that  even  the  sceptics  admit  the  capitals  at 
least  agree  with  the  alleged  system — the  study  of  months  in 
the  British  Museum ;  the  explanations  and  demonstrations  to 
numberless  people — all  to  hide  a  genius  so  magnificent !  In 
the  language  of  Mr.  Bompas,  "Absurd!"  And  yet,  I  repeat, 
if  not  Cipher  it  must  be  my  own  production. 

It  is  useless  to  discuss  the  probability  of  Bacon's  commit- 
ting State  secrets  to  such  a  Cipher.  It  is  not  a  time  to  ask 
the  question,  "Is  it  likely  ?"  The  Cipher-  is  there,  and  it  only 
remains  to  master  its  intricacies  and  search  out  what  it  has 
to  reveal. 

Elizabeth  Wells  Gallup. 


226 


A  WOKD  OK  TWO  ON  CANONBUKY  TOWER. 

Baconiana,  London. 

There  are  several  suggestive  points  of  connection  to  be 
noted  between  the  old  conventual  buildings  of  Canonbury  and 
our  Francis  St.  Alban.  There  are  also  obscure  particulars 
well  worthy  of  inquiry. 

Originally  the  property  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem,  Canonbury  House  is  generally  supposed  to  have 
been  built  in  1362,  ten  years  after  Edward  III.  had  exempted 
the  Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew  from  the  payment  of  subsidies, 
in  consequence  of  their  great  outlay  in  charity.  Stow  says 
that  William  Bolton  (Prior  from  1509  to  1532)  rebuilt  the 
house,  and  probably  erected  the  fine  square  tower  of  brick. 
Nichol.  in  his  "History  of  Canonbury,"  mentions  that  Bolton's 
rebus  of  a  holt  in  a  tun  was  still  to  be  seen,  cut  in  stone,  in  two 
places  on  the  outside  facing  Wells'  Row.  The  original  house 
covered  the  whole  space  now  called  Canonbury  Place,  and  had 
a  small  park,  with  garden  and  offices.  Prior  Bolton  either 
built  or  repaired  the  Priory  and  beautiful  Church  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, but  at  his  death  the  connection  between  Canonbury 
and  monasticism  ceased.* 

The  Tower  House  was  now  given  by  Henry  VHI.  to  John 
Dudley.  Earl  of  Northumberland,  afterwards  Viscount  Lisle, 
father  of  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester,  whose  history  has 
lately  risen  into  fresh  and  startling  importance  in  consequence 
of  certain  decii:)hered  history  to  be  submitted  to-  the  world's 
judgment.  John  Dudley  was  executed  as  a  traitor  when  Mary 
was  proclaimed  Queen  in  1553.  The  Tower  then  again  became 
Crown  pro])erty,  and  Queen  Mary  gave  it  to  "Rich  Spencer," 
the  magnificent  alderman  of  whom  history  speaks  so  fully, 
giving  us  even  that  which  it  denied  us  with  regard  to  Francis 
St.  Alban — details  of  his  funeral  obsequies.  It  is  from  this 
Sir  John  Spencer  (father-in-law  of  Lord  Compton)  that  Sir 
Francis  "Bacon,"  when  Attorney-General  (1616),  leased 
Canonbury  Manor. t 

*See  "Old  and'  New  London,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  269. 

tSir  John  Spencer's  daughter  and  heiress  Elizabeth,  married  Lord 
William  Compton  (created  Earl  of  Northampton),  eloping  with  him  from 
Canonbury  Manor  in  a  baker's  basket.  (As  I  am  a  man,  there  was  one  con- 
veyed out  of  my  house  yesterday  in  this  basket. — Merry  Wives  of  IV.  Act 

IV.,  sc.  ii.) 

227 


The  internal  arrangements  and  decorations  of  Canonbury 
House  are  commented  on  in  detail  by  Lewis,  who  describes 
the  elaborate  ornamental  carving,  emblematic  figures  and 
devices,  ships,  flowers,  foliage,  and  other  objects  which  Bacon- 
ians have  learnt  to  associate  with  the  symbolic  method 
of  teaching  of  the  Renaissance,  and  pre-eminently  of  the 
"Great  Master"  himself,  but  which  in  the  regulation  literature 
of  our  day  are  described  as  "specimens  of  taste  for  ornamental 
carving  and  stucco  work  that  prevailed  about  the  time  of 
Elizabeth."  There  are  also  medallions  of  three  great  men 
who  seem  to  have  been  in  a  way  models  to  our  Francis — types 
of  the  nobler  Pioneer,  the  mighty  Conqueror,  the  Master 
Builder,  Alexander  the  Great,  namely  Julius  Caesar,  Titus 
Vespasian.  Then  with  the  arms  of  the  Dudleys  may  be  seen 
the  arms  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in  several  places,  and  her  initials, 
"E.  R."  with  the  date — 1599,  at  which  time  the  premises  were 
fitted  up  by  Sir  John  Spencer. 

"On  the  white  wall  of  the  staircase,  near  the  top  of  the 
Tower,  are  some  Latin  hexameter  verses  comprising  the  ab- 
breviated names  of  the  Kings  of  England  from  William  the 
Conquerer  to  Charles  L,  painted  in  Roman  character  an  inch 
in  length,  but  almost  obliterated.  The  lines  were  most  prob- 
ably the  effusion  of  some  poetical  inhabitant  of  an  upper  apart- 
ment in  the  building  during  the  time  of  the  monarch  last  named, 
such  persons  having  frequently  been  residents  of  the  place." 

Thomas  Tomlins,  in  his  "History  of  Islington,"  writes 
thus : 

"The  Earl  and  Countess,  by  description  Lord  and  Lady 
Compton,  by  indenture  15th  February,  Jac.  1616,  let  to  the 
Right  Hon.  Francis  Lord  Verulam,  Visct.  St.  Albans,  by  the 
name  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon  Knight,*  His  Majs.  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, all  that  mansion  and  garden  belonging  to  what  is  called 
Canonbury  House,  in  the  Parish  of  Islington  *  *  *  fQj. 
40  years  from  Lady-day,  161 7." 

With  regard  to  the  Tower,  the  same  writer  states : 

"The  great  Sir  Francis  Bacon  resided  here  from  February, 
1616;  as  also  at  the  time  of  his  receiving  the  Great  Seal,  on  7th 
Jan.,  1 61 8,  and  for  some  time  afterwards. f 

"After  the  decease  of  Henry  Prince  of  Wales  (in  1612)  the 
Manor  of  Newington  Barrowe  was,  with  other  portion  of  land, 
on  loth  January,  14  Jac,  granted  upon  lease  for  99  years  to 

*Created  Baron  Verulam  of  Verulam  12th  of  July,  1618,  and  Visct.  St. 
Alban  Feb.  3rd,  1619. 

fThe  acreage  of  various  "closes"  is  here  given. 

22s 


Sir  Francis  Bacon,  Knt.,  at  that  time  the  King's  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, and  also  Chancellor  to  Charles  Prince  of  Wales,  after- 
wards Charles  L,  and  others,  his  law  officers  and  ministers  in 
trust  for  him,  which  lease,  upon  his  accession,  became  merged 
in  the  Crown." — Dated  at  Canonbury,  15th  Sept.,  1629. 

In  connection  with  recent  statements  concerning  the  par- 
entage of  Francis  St.  Alban,  it  will  be  observed  that  in  Nelson's 
"History  of  Islington"  the  writer  states  that  Queen  Elizabeth 
was  at  Canonbury  Tower  in  the  year  1561,  and  that  she  had  a 
"lodge"  or  summer-house  looking  into  Canonbury  Fields.  It 
bore  her  arms  and  initials,  with  the  date  1595.  "The  Tower 
was  encompassed  by  pleasant  fields  and  gardens,  and  a  salubri- 
ous air." 


229 


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